Nigeria: the health, economic and social menace of smoking – Time for concerted actions.

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The Enemy of the Nigerian nation
Mr. Lanre Oginni, Executive director, All-Nigerian Consumer Movement, stated that the tobacco industry has violated practically every article of the eight consumer rights, which were incorporated in the 1985 United Nations Guidelines for consumer protection and which were amended in 1999 to include sustainable consumption. He maintained that the tobacco business is a huge consumer fraud. He stated that those employed in tobacco factories or selling tobacco on the streets often earn starvation wages. Far from being rich from their vocation, many of those working in tobacco-related environment are facing multi-generational poverty compounded by illiteracy and poor health.
To illustrate the overtly conducive atmosphere for tobacco market in Nigeria which remains out of tune with global reality, the British American Tobacco (BAT) recently demanded tax waivers from the federal government. Additionally, BAT continues to explore areas not covered by the APCON directive or existing laws to advertise its products. Those areas include delivery vans, point of sale, traffic signs and umbrellas. It has continued to associate tobacco with arts, music, fashion, etc. It has also colour-coded all its brands in Nigeria that the colours speak for the products.
BAT has continued to demonstrate its willingness to exploit further loopholes (in its battle for survival) to continue to market its deadly products to identified target customers, especially the youths and the poor, further creating a vicious cycle of preventable deaths, diseases and poverty. It has continued to use its corporate social responsibility projects to hypnotise the public, creating confusion about the needs for tighter tobacco control.
Nigeria is in a race against a heartless and powerful tobacco conglomerate which admitted at the FCTC hearing in 2000 that: “‘we agree that smoking is addictive and causes diseases in smokers, but we do not have legal responsibility for those that claim they have been injured. We should not be responsible for their choices”. The onus thus lies on the federal government of Nigeria to be proactive in instituting measures aimed at protecting the populace.

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