The Nigerian Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) and the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) have called on the Federal Government to increase the Tobacco Control Fund (TCF) from N13 million to N300 million allocated to it in the 2025 budget.
At a joint press conference held in Abuja, they argued that N13 million remains grossly insufficient compared to the level of funding required for the effective implementation of the National Tobacco Control Act (NTCA) 2015 and protection of Nigerians from the multifaceted harms of tobacco use.
Applauding the government for increasing the allocation to the TCF from N10 million in 2024 to N13 million, they maintained that tobacco use remains public health enemy number one, responsible for millions of preventable deaths worldwide, including those of thousands of Nigerians yearly.
The groups added that confronting this public health emergency requires financial commitment and full operationalisation of the TCF.
Akinbode Oluwafemi, CAPPA’s Executive Director, said: “We urge the government to prioritise the Tobacco Control Fund, increase the allocation to at least N300 million as an urgent measure to stop the tobacco industry from causing more damage. The lives of Nigerians are at stake.
“While the government drags its feet on adequate allocation to the Tobacco Control Fund, the tobacco industry is relentlessly lobbying the public to embrace newer, stylish kinds of harmful tobacco products and other so-called smokeless nicotine-filled products that it falsely presents as ‘less harmful’ or ‘safer’ than traditional tobacco use.
“These alternative nicotine products, including vapes, also known as electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), heated tobacco products (HTPs), snus, and oral nicotine pouches, among others, are targeted at our teeming, impressionable youth population, which the industry sees as a potential replacement for the thousands of others who die or whose lives are destroyed by tobacco use.”
The TCF, established under Section 8 of the Nigeria Tobacco Control Act (NTCA), 2015, is part of a comprehensive framework to combat the harmful effects of tobacco consumption.
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It is funded from appropriations from the national budget, proceeds of fines for violations of tobacco laws, and contributions from relevant development bodies for tobacco control.
Allocations to the TCF enable the National Tobacco Control Committee (NATOCC) and Tobacco Control Unit (TCU) to carry out their obligations. It also supports the work of relevant government institutions in health promotion initiatives, tobacco control programs, and enforcement activities to ensure compliance with set laws and regulations.
Olawale Makanjuola, Alliance Coordinator of NTCA, called for transparency in administering the TCF, noting that increasing the sum in the budget, without efficient deployment of same to tobacco control efforts, would be counterproductive.
He advised the government, through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (FMOHSW), to comply with the law in administering the TCF.
Michael Olaniyan, the Country Coordinator for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, warned of the dangers of Nigeria’s failure to act on the TCF.
Referencing how poor funding restricts tobacco control interventions, he noted that effective sensitisation campaigns need robust media outreach, deep community engagement, and active coordination with various stakeholders across the country, all of which require substantial funding to reach a broad audience and create impactful messages.
CAPPA and NTCA noted that despite longstanding stakeholder calls, the TCF has yet to be fully operationalised, allowing tobacco companies to exploit Nigeria’s weak monitoring systems to expose Nigerians to the unchecked dangers of online tobacco marketing, abuse corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to gain favour with public health authorities, thereby undermining tobacco control laws and enticing more users into tobacco consumption.
