The National Tobacco Control Act was enacted in 2005 to mitigate the dangers of smoking, but 10 years later, the emergence of new products, lax enforcement, poor awareness creation and widespread non-compliance among others are making a mockery of the law, NKECHI ONYEDIKA-UGOEZE and IJEOMA NWANOSIKE report.
A decade after Nigeria enacted the National Tobacco Control Act to tackle dangers associated with smoking, widespread non-compliance remains a major challenge to achieving set goals as cigarettes continue to be sold openly in single sticks, and smokers frequently pollute public spaces, while minors still easily access tobacco products.
Alarmingly, more than one million Nigerians die each year from exposure to secondhand smoke, while tobacco-related health crises cost the country over N500 billion yearly. It is this scenario that has forced many to ask how many more preventable deaths must occur before the Federal Government takes the enforcement of the Act seriously?
Key provisions of the Act, which was passed into law in 2015, include the prohibition of smoking in public places such as restaurants, bars, bus stops, vehicle parks, and seaports. The Act also mandates graphic health warnings on packaging, regulates industry interference, and establishes a National Tobacco Control Committee.
However, checks by The Guardian revealed that smokers continue to pollute the atmosphere in public places, while investigations also showed that many cigarette sellers and smokers are ignorant of the provisions of the Act.
Findings revealed that the price of cigarettes remains extremely cheap as a stick goes for between N50.00 and N100.00, depending on the brand, while a pack costs between N1000.00 and N2000.00, respectively.
The Global Adult Tobacco Survey revealed that about 4.5 million adults in Nigeria use tobacco products, while over 20 billion sticks of cigarettes are consumed yearly in the country.
Tobacco smoking has been identified as a risk factor for many non-communicable diseases, including cancer. A study by the Centre for the Study of the Economics of Africa (CSEA) revealed that about 29,000 people in Nigeria die yearly from smoking-related diseases, while the country loses over N500 billion yearly in addressing tobacco-related health issues. Available statistics also show that over one million Nigerians die from secondary smoking yearly, not because they use tobacco products, but because they are exposed to second-hand smoke.
Nigeria became a party to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2005 and domesticated the FCTC in 2015 by passing the National Tobacco Control Act 2015 and its Regulations in 2019.
Tobacco smoking has been implicated as a risk factor for all forms of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, diabetes, and respiratory diseases such as bronchitis and emphysema. It is also linked to reproductive health issues, including low birth weight, low sperm count, and reduced fertility. Tobacco interferes with and impedes the body’s use of insulin. Studies have shown that people who use tobacco are two to three times more likely to develop diabetes than those who do not use tobacco.
The Nigerian Cancer Society (NCS) believes that the Act would have been a game changer in controlling tobacco use in the country if its implementation were optimal.
According to the President of the NCS, Abidemi Omonisi: “The problem we have in our country is lax enforcement. This country has so many laws, but their implementation remains a problem, and that is why people still smoke openly in most places, especially in rural areas. In fact, most people are not even aware of the Act.
“Tobacco products are still easily accessible even to minors. You see secondary schoolchildren smoking cigarettes. Some of them have graduated from smoking tobacco to something else – marijuana and other hard drugs.”
Omonisi stated that the major issue hindering the implementation of the Act is the lack of synergy among government institutions charged with enforcing its provisions.
He emphasised that tobacco is a grave public health issue, linked to more than eight million deaths globally each year, and is a significant contributing factor to non-communicable diseases, especially cancer.
“There is no particular cancer you mention that cigarette smoke is not a principal factor,” he said, adding: “As a matter of fact, there are two major contributing factors to most cancers: radiation and cigarette smoking. That is why we are concerned with it in the Nigerian Cancer Society, because we know that if the government enforces that Act, it will go a long way in reducing the country’s cancer burden, as well as cardiovascular diseases like hypertension, respiratory diseases, TB pneumonia, and prevent premature deaths.”
The Coordinator of the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA), Mr Olawale Makanjuola, agrees with the NCS that the public health burden that tobacco-related cases have placed on the country’s health system is enormous, hence the need for enforcement of the Act.
Makanjuola, who raised concerns about the lack of proper regulation around new and emerging products like vapes and e-cigarettes and emphasised the need to address the issue urgently, stated that the National Tobacco Control Committee (NATTOC), which comprises security and regulatory agencies, has not functioned effectively due to a lack of funding.
Makanjuola explained that the ban on smoking in public places is one of the most important sections of the National Tobacco Control Act and also requires domestication at the subnational level, warning that if states fail to start enforcing the law, there could be an increase in tobacco-related ailments in the country.
The coordinator observed that the enactment of the law has reduced the influence that the tobacco industry once had and how it exploited Nigerians for profit.
Sharing Makanjuola’s position that by ensuring the full implementation of the Act, the country can reduce the health burden placed on its health infrastructure as a result of tobacco-related illnesses, is the Executive Director of the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Akinbode Oluwafemi, who lamented that the country has lagged in enforcing the Act passed over a decade ago.
Oluwafemi, in arguing that the low taxes on tobacco products make Nigeria one of the countries with very cheap tobacco products, stressed that the most worrying issue now is the proliferation of new and emerging products like Vapes, Shisha, and electronic cigarettes, among others.
Oluwafemi lamented that the tobacco industry is saturating the country with these products and promoting the false narrative that they are less harmful, emphasising the urgent need to revise the existing laws to appropriately incorporate these new products.
Said the CAPPA boss: “Nigeria has made progress in enacting the necessary laws to reduce the consumption of tobacco products across the country. Having these laws is commendable, but the country has really lagged in the areas of enforcement.”
An anonymous source close to the government told The Guardian that Nigeria is one of the cheapest places to buy tobacco because taxes on the products are not very high.
He explained that the recommendation is that about 70 per cent of the retail price should be taxed, but the current tax in Nigeria is about 20 per cent, whereas the target should be as high as 70 per cent.
He stated that the tobacco industry often highlights the billions the government earns through taxes, but argued that studies have shown that for every $1 a country makes from cigarettes, the country loses about $3 on healthcare costs, reduced productivity, and other expenses.
According to him, over one million people in Nigeria die from secondhand smoke yearly because they stay around people who use tobacco products.
He noted, however, that Nigeria has made some progress in implementing the National Tobacco Control Act, including the introduction of graphic health warnings on tobacco packs and bans on not just advertising but also promotion and sponsorship.
He said: “As you might be aware, before now, what we had was the health warning that came by way of text – ‘the Federal Ministry of Health warns that smokers are liable to die young’. So, that was what we had on packs of cigarettes, and it was about 30 per cent of the pack. What we have now in our law is 50 per cent, that’s half of the pack, should be for graphic health warning.”
“We are currently in the second rotation. The first rotation had a sample of a smoker’s lung and a healthy lung so that smokers can see what tobacco use will result in. In the second rotation, which is currently on, it is a depiction of mouth cancer, so that smokers can see the diseases that are associated with using tobacco. In June, we’re going to have the third rotation, which is throat cancer.”
Before now, what we had was only a ban on advertising, but now, we have a ban on not just advertising, but also promotion and sponsorship. So, when you have tobacco companies printing nylon bags, umbrellas, pens, and all the rest, that is illegal in the country currently.”
He emphasised the need for people to know about the deceptive marketing strategies of the tobacco industry, adding that flavours have been introduced to reduce the harshness of tobacco products.
“The industry tried to reduce that harshness and increase appeal, including flavours. So, a product like shisha is highly flavoured with sugar, glycerin, and flavours that have been put in shisha and also other tobacco products. Cigarettes have menthol. So, instead of feeling that harshness, there’s this soothing sensation. The same thing for the electronic cigarettes that come in all kinds of flavours – strawberry, vanilla – to deceive people that these products are not as bad as they are. Nigeria needs to ban flavours, like most countries are doing and promote the regulation to ensure effective enforcement.”
He highlighted the need to ensure that Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC, which states that the tobacco industry should not be part of the development of public health policies, protects public health interests from the tobacco industry’s vested commercial interests.
He acknowledged that another major gap is the influence of the tobacco industry in some policy processes, especially with certain agencies whose mandates give them the platform to relate directly to the tobacco industry.
On his part, Dr Donald Aniekwe, a medical officer at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), warned of a troubling rise in tobacco use among young Nigerians.
He noted that many youths are turning to cigarettes, shisha, and e-cigarettes under the mistaken belief that they are safer alternatives. “It’s steadily rising, particularly in urban areas, fuelled by peer pressure, media influence, and celebrities glamorising smoking.”
Aniekwe described secondhand smoke as a “silent killer adding that a significant number of Nigerians, especially women and children, are routinely exposed to secondhand smoke in homes, workplaces, restaurants, and nightclubs.
“Nearly 30 per cent of Nigerians report exposure in public restaurants, and over 80 per cent in nightclubs and bars.”
He lamented that many still believe that occasional or ventilated exposure is harmless. “There’s no safe level of secondhand smoke. It increases the risk of respiratory infections, asthma, heart disease, and lung cancer in non-smokers.”
Also, Anjola Fatuase, a tobacco control advocate at Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), said that despite having a National Tobacco Control Act in place since 2015, Nigeria continues to grapple with thousands of tobacco-related deaths yearly, with young people increasingly at risk due to emerging nicotine products.
According to Fatuase, the public’s ignorance about tobacco control laws remains a significant hurdle, with many Nigerians still unaware of key provisions such as the bans on smoking in public places, sales to minors, and the sale of single-stick cigarettes.
He further warned that the government’s failure to enforce tobacco control measures has far-reaching consequences and has helped normalise smoking in public spaces, thereby increasing the exposure of non-smokers to secondhand smoke.
Fatuase called for full implementation of Article 5.3 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which requires governments to protect public health policies from tobacco industry interference.
“It is unethical and counterproductive for a government to accept support from an industry that profits from public harm. A government cannot truly protect its people while being influenced by those who endanger them.”
