Tobacco smoking is one of the most preventable causes of premature death in the world today. Since its discovery in the farmlands of the Americas dating back to 1000 BC, it has continued to be a part of society and has been utilised in different forms – chewed, snuffed, smoked via pipes, in cigarette sticks, shisha or…

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr Abdullahi Mashi, has urged Nigerians to support the fight against tobacco to avert lung diseases and other tobacco-related conditions in the country.

Forty-eight groups, on the platform of Africa Tobacco Control Civil Society Organisations, have written to the Senate asking it to adopt...

The House of Representatives is to approve the draft National Tobacco Control Regulations (NTCR) before June this year. Speaker Yakubu Dogara gave the assurance yesterday during an interactive session with stakeholders organised by the Simon Arabo-led committee on delegated legislation on the tobacco control regulation in Abuja. Represented by the Deputy Whip, Pally Iriase, he…

Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has raided lounges, bars, open markets and parks in Lagos State to enforce the National Tobacco Control (NTC) Act. CPC officials from Abuja came to Lagos on Thursday to continue the enforcement of the act, which seemed to be ignored by tobacco users and sellers. They had raided Port Harcourt and…

The suspension of the initial plan by the Federal Government to increase excise tariff by more than 500 per cent on spirit, wines and tobacco products saved over 165,000 jobs, the National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), has said. The union said with its intervention and special appeal made to the government…

The recent household drug use survey revealed that prescription drug abuse is a fast-emerging public health problem that has led to increasing poly-drug use amongst drug dependent persons. It is undermining all efforts to deepen socio-economic development and is associated with crime and lawlessness. Indeed, every year millions of young Nigerians ages between 10-25, are…

I wish all my readers a Happy New Year. I am happy to predict that the world, the way we know it now, a global system that has been deliberately designed and constructed in such a way that the black person on earth should not succeed, will come to a shuddering end in 2030. Before…

Qatar, the world's largest exporter of liquified natural gas, will run its first budget surplus in three years in 2019 due to higher energy prices, a government statement said Thursday. The surplus will reach 4.3 billion Qatari riyals ($1.2bn, 1 billion euros) because of an expected sustained rise in prices. The statement also said Qatar…

There has been an explosion in global and cross border trade for some decades now. With this burst also comes the menace of illicit trade, otherwise known as the underground economy. As markets open and demand grows, people try to engage in illegitimate trade by producing, importing, exporting, purchasing or selling items without complying with…

Researchers from the University of Bath have disclosed some leaked documents, which state that illegal tobacco marketers are deceiving governments worldwide to flood the cigarette black market, despite the Illicit Trade Protocol (ITP) put in place.

• iQos e-cigarette safer for smokers, reduces harm Tobacco epidemic has been identified as one of the biggest public health threats and the leading cause of preventable death, illness and impoverishment in the world. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that over seven million people die each year from the effects of tobacco. It further…