ERA/FoEN Calls For Adedibu’s Recall

By Valentine Amanze

Senator Kamarudeen Adedibu, who represents Oyo South Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, may have stepped on the tail of a tiger, as Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has called for his resignation as a senator follwing his statement supporting cigarette smoking at Iseyin, Oyo State.
Programme Manager, ERA/FoEN, Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, who spoke in Lagos, alleged that Adedibu made misleading statements on the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) being sponsored by Senator Olurunnibe Mamoora and which is currently before the Senate Committee on Health.
He alleged that Adedibu made insinuations that the bill, which had passed the public hearing stage was dead, as it would cause Nigeria over 600,000 jobs tied with tobacco industry.
Akinbode however said the bill was not dead and it would not cause serious job loss, stressing that tobacco industry employs less than 1,000 Nigerians. His words: “Contrary to the lies and deception of the statement credited to the senator, the National Tobacco Control Bill is not dead. The bill scaled through the second reading in the Senate in February 2009 and at that reading all the senators present and who spoke at the plenary expressed strong support for the bill.
“Indeed, the Senate President, David Mark, while referring the bill to the Committee on Health, enjoined the members to expedite action on it because of the intense lobbying power of the tobacco industry, which would seek to derail the enactment of laws that would protect the lives of Nigerians and also curtail the industry’s criminal activities.”
The ERA/FoEN chief, while calling for the recall of the lawmaker, said he (Adedibu) lied against Nigerians and his constituency by failing in his mandate to protect the health of those who voted him into power.
According to him, “By failing to abide by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under Chapter 11, the Fundamental Objectives and Derivative Principles of State Policy to protect all vulnerable groups (children and women) from the effects of second hand smoking and industry manipulations, the society and the environment, also by failing to abide by the African Chapter on Human and People’s Right, which provides a healthy environment and state of well being for all people, ERA/FoEN hereby call on Adedibu to resign his position as the senator representing Oyo South Constituency.”

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ERA tackles lawmaker over tobacco bill

By Gbenga Adeniji

A non-governmental organisation, Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth, has described as misleading a comment credited to Senator Kamarudeen Adedibu that the passage of the National Tobacco Control bill would jeopardise over 600,000 jobs attached to the tobacco industry.
Reacting in a statement issued by its Media officer, Mr. Seun Akioye, the group’s Programme Manager, Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, said the senator had by the comment aligned himself with the tobacco industry, to the detriment of public health.
According to the statement, “He said the bill, if passed, would result in the loss of about 600,000 jobs. This suggestion is as laughable as it is ridiculous. For the records, let me state that nowhere is the tobacco industry employing people near the figure being branded by the senator.
“On its website and at the public hearing, the British American Tobacco Nigeria has acknowledged that it employs less than 1000 people in direct employment; and indirectly, including the kiosk operators, PR agents, distributors, youth organisers, youth marketers etc about 3,000 people. Where did the senator get his figures from?”
He further stated that Adedibu, representing Oyo South, also claimed that the bill was dead, stressing that the declaration was untrue for the proposed piece of legislation had passed second reading.
He said, ‘‘Contrary to the statements credited to the senator, the National Tobacco Control bill is not dead. The bill scaled through second reading in the Senate in February 2009; and at that reading, all the senators who spoke expressed strong support for the bill.”

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Speed up tobacco bill, group tells assembly

The lack lustre approach of the National Assembly to the speedy passage into law of the National Tobacco Control Bill may cause the nation more tobacco related deaths, according to the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation.

The organisation made this call on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the coming into effect of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which had been ratified by over 168 countries including Nigeria since 2005.

Increased tobacco-related deaths

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), tobacco related deaths stand at 5.4 million people annually and by projections will increase beyond eight million over the next two decades, with the majority of lives lost in the developing countries.

The WHO insists that strong worldwide enforcement and implementation of the FCTC could save 200 million lives by the year 2050. Nigeria signed the FCTC in 2004 and ratified in 2005 but has been recording more deaths relating to tobacco, especially cancer.

"The fifth year of FCTC entering into force calls for sober reflection for us as a nation because in the last five years little progress has been made in domesticating the FCTC," said Akinbode Oluwafemi, ERA/FoEN's programme manager. "This has not been without a grave impact on the citizenry because within this period we have lost talented musicians, journalists and even doctors, no thanks to nearly no regulation of an industry that markets a lethal product in beautiful wraps."

Foot-dragging on the bill

Mr. Oluwafemi said that Nigerians are not happy with the slow response of government to public health protection, especially the way the tobacco control bill was neglected after the public hearing in July last year.

"We are further dismayed that there is an alleged clandestine move by tobacco lobbyists to compromise our law makers with the intent of thwarting the passage of the national tobacco control bill," said Mr. Oluwafemi. "How else can you explain our law makers' foot-dragging on the bill nearly one year after the public hearing? This action is anti-people and seriously compromises our democracy. Our lawmakers should stand by the people who have spoken in unison at the public hearing and abide by the principles of the FCTC which has reduced tobacco-related deaths in countries that have implemented the provisions."

At the fifth anniversary of the entry of the WHO FCTC, the convention secretariat organised a special event on 26 February 2010 at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva.

Margaret Chan, the director general of the WHO, said that recent studies estimate that full implementation of just four cost-effective measures set out in the FCTC could prevent 5.5 million deaths within a decade.

Fighting the lobbyists

Similar sentiments were echoed by tobacco control groups across the world. The Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), a network of tobacco control groups from across the globe, said that countries that have implemented the FCTC provisions like a ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorships have gone a long way in reducing deaths.

"Tobacco use remains high in low and middle income countries and is increasing among women and young people... We have had five years of good progress on policy but deaths due to tobacco use continue to rise. Governments need to fund their policy promises to stem the tide of tobacco deaths," said Laurent Huber, the FCA Director.

Another group, Corporate Accountability International, warned about the tobacco industry's track-record of trying to water down on the implementation of the FCTC.

According to the organisation's director, Gigi Kellett, "In July 2009, during an international protocol negotiating session, parties identified and kicked tobacco lobbyists out of the process - a move made possible by Article 5.3., a provision of the FCTC which protects the treaty from tobacco industry interference in any guise. By that action, parties safeguarded the negotiations against the tobacco industry's fundamental and irreconcilable conflict of interest, sending a strong message to the industry."

The FCTC entered into force in 2005. Parties are expected to domesticate the treaty by implementing national tobacco control coordinating mechanisms, prohibiting the sals of tobacco products to minors, and taking measures to protect public health policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.

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Nigeria: Smoking - 6.5 Million Risk Death in 2010

By Ben Ukeji

Abuja — No fewer than 6.5 million Nigerian smokers may die this year from tobacco-related sickness.

An international expert, Akinbode Oluwafemi, who said this also said about 65 million Nigerians smoke cigarette.

Olwafemi said that inability of government to tax tobacco producing companies heavily was responsible for the cheap prices of cigarette making it easily available to low income earners.

According to him, increased taxation will lead to increase price of the product thereby, discouraging the youths who were the most vulnerable group from smoking cigarette.

He said a pack of cigarette that sells for N200 in Nigeria goes for about $5 in the United States of America (USA) due to the heavy taxation placed on the manufacturing companies saying "smoking is a sure gateway to drug addiction."

While describing smoking as a major risk factor for different cancer cases, Akinbode said it is also linked to about fifteen various cases of cancer in human body saying "apart from the high cost of treatment, infrastructural challenges, smoking related cancers accounts for 30 per cent of cancer related deaths."

The expert who is the Programme Manager, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria said that cigarette contains about 4000 toxic and cancer causing chemicals and is responsible for more than 85 per cent cases of lung cancer.

He said that smoking causes cancer of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, uterine, cervix, kidney, ureter, bladder and the colon.

While urging the National Assembly to hasten the process of passage of bill on the ban on tobacco smoking in the country, Oluwafemi urged Nigerians to support the passage of the National Tobacco Control Bill.

The Secretary for Social Development of the FCDA, Habiba Kalgo while declaring the workshop open said the decision to ban smoking in public places in FCT was necessitated by the increase in the number of deaths arising from cancer cases in the FCT.

She, however, urged FCT residents to support the ban since they were the secondhand smokers were also affected by the fumes of the product.

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TOBACCO CONTROL BILL : Making a choice between economy and citizens health

-IKENNA OBI

As the Tobacco control bill provokes debate between two major parties of stakeholders, it is apparent that the choice is between guaranteeing banal economic returns and closing the eyes to the negative toll of tobacco consumption on public health.
In its attempt to rationalize the legislation of a Tobacco Control Act which seeks among other things to prohibit tobacco products advertising and promotion or the sponsorship of any project or programme bordering on entertainment or tourism by tobacco manufacturers, the Senate has in a recent public hearing granted audience to stakeholders. It would be recalled that the bill for tobacco control sponsored by Senator Olorunimbe Mamora had since February this year been a subject of legislative debate in the upper house. A debate that has created a divide between those who see in tobacco manufacturing a blessing as jobs are created and those who see nothing but disease and death which flows from tobacco manufacturing and sale in the country.
Coming at the heels of the imposition of strict legislative control against tobacco manufacturing in Europe and the United States of America, the on going attempt to ban the sale of tobacco products to persons below 18 and the prohibition of advertisement in promotions by tobacco companies in Nigeria through the Tobacco Control Act creates a gloomy future for an industry. It is on record that the British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) a major tobacco products manufacturer in the country pays up to 80 billion Naira as tax to government coffers. In addition, BATN has executed and still executes many corporate social responsibility projects across the country. It is estimated that the closure of BATN activities in the country would lead to the loss of more than 500,000 jobs, thus affecting the well being of millions of dependants.
However, the coalition of forces that insist on the stringent control of tobacco manufacturing, sale and promotion in the country have reeled out statistics proving that tobacco brings nothing but disease and death and avoidable health expenditure. A recent survey conducted in hospitals in Lagos state revealed that up to 2 person die every day as a result of tobacco related diseases. This gives an idea of the colossal human cost of tobacco in a country where accurate statistics are not available. The stunning 400,000 deaths recorded in the United States of America as result of tobacco products consumption gives an impression of the negative impact of tobacco consumption on human health.
In kick starting the debate on the Tobacco Control bill Senator Mamora commented on the fact that the increasing hostility of the economic environment in Europe and America has driven tobacco manufacturers like BATN to the developing countries where they exploit the ignorance of the people and the laxity of government to continue the production and sale of products that are harmful to peoples health.
The plan to establish a BATN factory in the country was made known on September 24 2001 with the intention then to expend up to $150 million dollars in constructing a modern cigarette factory in Ibadan . Then, two years into the first tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo and at a time when the country was direly in need of foreign investment, BATN was perceived more as a partner in economic progress. However the entry of BATN in the country at the time met with pockets of opposition. Such opposition mounted by civil society was overwhelmed by an overwhelming wave of euphoria that gripped government bureaucrats over foreign investment. It would be recalled that the then Minister of Industry, Kola Jamodu noted that the coming of BATN is a "considerable investment" which "demonstrates that the new Nigeria is on track… We are on course to meet the ambitious investment targets…
Today, 8 years after its decision to fully enter the Nigeria market as a manufacturer of tobacco products, BATN is under pressure both from concerned civil society organizations and legislators to organize its activities in the country in a way that would no endanger the health of ignorant people.
Commenting during the public hearing in the Senate, BATN Regional Affairs manager, Tony Okwoju captured the major fear of the tobacco manufacturing sector by noting that the purpose of tobacco control should be restricted to reducing the effect of tobacco consumption on public health not to force tobacco companies out of business.
Considering the estimate that up to 6.5 million Nigerians are already prone to tobacco related deaths, the Senate according to the Senate President is faced with a legislative challenge bordering on allowing a liberal regime for tobacco consumption and thus put more lives on the death row or enact the Tobacco Control Act into a law and stand the risk of endangering the fortunes of tobacco manufacturing in the country with attendant revenue loss to government- in this era of serious drive for revenues and the loss of jobs thus swelling the unemployment rate in the country.
Will there be a compromise- a middle ground that would create a win-win scenario or would the boom days of cigarette manufacturing, promotions, sponsorships and consumption be over ? But the fears remain that the stifling of tobacco manufacturing in the country may create a boom for the smuggling of tobacco products into the country through the nation's porous borders through the illicit connivance of unscrupulous customs officials.

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How Tobacco Bill Provoked Controversy in Senate

Wife of former Chief Justice of Nigeria and member of the African Union Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Mrs. Maryam Uwais and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello are engaged in a healthy, even if needless, argument on the propriety or otherwise of disallowing children to participate in the recently-held public hearing on the Tobacco Control Bill in the Senate. Sufuyan Ojeifo examines the tenor of the controversy.

The purpose of the public hearing on the Tobacco Control Bill held on July 20 and 21, this year, in the Senate Hearing Room One, was to get stakeholders’ input into the Bill, preparatory to the Third Reading (clause-by-clause consideration and passage). From the various submissions at the hearing, it was evident that the anti-Tobacco Control Bill groups were in the minority. The majority groups understandably succeeded in swaying public sentiments in favour of the Bill, which was sponsored by Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora.

The pro-Tobacco Control Bill groups already had their task well-cut out for them by the sponsor of the Bill and the entire membership of the Senate Committee on Health, all of whom were on the same page in their mission to achieve control, sale and consumption of the product. Specifically, the proposed legislation is entitled: “A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Tobacco (Control) Act 1990 Cap T16 Laws of the Federation and to Enact the National Tobacco Control Bill 2009 to provide for the Regulation or Control of Production, Manufacture, Sale, Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship of Tobacco or Tobacco Products in Nigerian and for other Relates Matters.”

Expectedly, the issue was controversial. Apart from the British America Tobacco Nigeria (BATN), which attempted a diplomatic opposition, there was groundswell of support for the Bill. It agreed that tobacco had impact on public health, but supported appropriate regulation the industry as it would help to reduce the impact.

But the controversy that has unexpectedly bludgeoned its way into the public domain on account of the public hearing, organised by the Senate Committee on Health under the Chair of Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, centres on the propriety or otherwise of disallowing some school children to air their views on the occasion.

Wife of former Chief Justice of Nigeria and member of the African Union Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Mrs. Maryam Uwais and Obasanjo-Bello are engaged in disputation over the decision by the latter to shut out the children from making a presentation at the hearing.

Uwais was miffed that the rights of the school children were abridged. She is, no doubt, an advocate of the protection of the child rights. On her part, Obasanjo-Bello insisted that the children come before their rights and from her position, she is an advocate of the protection of the child. Specifically, Uwais had in a letter to Obasanjo-Bello, copies of which were sent to the Senate President, Senator David Mark and Senator Mamora (sponsor of the Bill) said that in denying the children the opportunity to speak, Obasanjo-Bello had said that she was a mother and so felt the need to protect children.

According to Uwais: “You aid that you would not allow children to be ‘used’ or ‘paraded’ before the Committee and that even in law courts, the evidence of a child would need to be corroborated during a trial. Besides, in your view, since adults were present and knew what the issues were, there was absolutely no need for a person under the age of 18 to participate in the proceedings.

“To further support your own assertions, you added that at hearings in the Senate, persons who intended to contribute could be compelled to swear oaths on the scriptures appropriate to their faiths, which in fact, in your understanding, was another excuse for denying them the right to be heard on an issue that concerns them, also. In conclusion, you mentioned that the Child Rights Act did not allow for children to speak at such fora.”

After citing the various sections of the Constitution, the Child Rights Act 2003 and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ratified by Nigeria since July 23, 2001), she knocked off the position of Obasanjo-Bello. She said that that public hearing was not a court of law as the Senator would want people to believe. She said “while not delving into the justifications and reasons for the policy, laws and formalities that apply in family court proceedings or in trials where children testify as witnesses and the need for corroboration and/or not swearing on oath or not, the point must be made that rules of evidence that are strictly observed in a court of law do not apply to public hearings.

“Indeed, even in judicial proceedings concerning a child, the court is compelled to make available the opportunity for the views of the child to be heard directly or through an impartial representatives, depending on the circumstances; the fact remains that his or her views must be heard and the court is obliged to ensure that, in its own discretion, predicated upon the best interests of the child…”

The first reaction to Uwais came from Lawyer-Aides in the National Assembly (LANASS), under the leadership of Mr. Akande Oluwatosin, which faulted the position Uwais, to the effect that Obasanjo-Bello violated the rights of the school children by not allowing them to present their position at the just concluded public hearing on the Tobacco Control Bill. The body, in a statement issued in Abuja, said that while Obasanjo-Bello based her decision on the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, Uwais had anchored her protest on the provisions of Section 3 of the Child Rights Act.The Section reads: “The provisions in Chapter 1V of the Constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria, 1999, or any successive constitutional provisions relating to fundamental rights, shall apply as if those provisions are expressly stated in this Act.”

LANASS said, “From the above provision, it is clear for all purposes and intent that the drafters of the Child Rights Act made it subject to the constitution and besides, it is elementary that the basic law above all laws in every nation is its constitution.”

The group further poked a hole in Uwais’ argument that Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution, which provides for the Right of Freedom of Expression of every Nigerian, including the secondary school students covered them. According to the body, “True, not limited by age but this Section and others-37, 38, 40 and 41, in Chapter 4 are limited by the Derogation Clause as provided in Section 45 (1) of the same Constitution, which states: ‘Nothing in Sections 36, 38, 39, 40 and 41 of this Constitution shall invalidate any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society-(a) in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality and public health; or (b) for the purposes of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons.’”

The body said, “Sequel to that is the provision of Section 45 (1) (b) that such limitations on the above-named sections can be for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons, which, predictably and for the test of reasonableness, is one of the reasons adduced by the Senator (Obasanjo-Bello) for her action that the young persons (school children) be refrained from public discussions on smoking for protectionist reasons.”

LANASS said that it could agree more because “these young people are not even supposed to be found in places where such topics are being discussed, ab-initio.” It observed that Uwais in her position cited Section 19 of the Child Rights Act with the footnote-“Responsibilities of a Child and Parent” but that she omitted to mention Section 20 with the footnote-“Parent, etc., to provide guidance with respect to Child’s Responsibilities.”

Accusing Uwais of insincerity for citing only Section 19 without taking it together with Section 20, LANASS argued that it is only when “both sections are read together as a whole that sufficient legal analysis of that part of the Act might have been done.” The body also tackled Uwais for berating Obasanjo-Bello for purportedly misconstruing the Senate Committee Public hearing as a court. According to the body, “: But unknown to most Nigerians, the senator was right and Mrs. Uwais, ironically, was the erring party. Court, as defined by Section 2 of the Evidence Act, is not restricted to a structure or building where judgments are pronounced but includes judges, magistrates and all persons empowered to take evidence except arbitrators.

“Since National Assembly Committees are empowered, by law, to take evidence, they could constitute what is a court, following the provisions of the Evidence Act. Therefore, the Senator (Obasanjo-Bello) was accurate in her analogy; even if it appears she had no knowledge of the legal truth of her statements.”

But in her reply to Uwais dated July 29, 2009, Obasanjo-Bello said, “…On the second day, Mrs. Uwais was again present. After the first few speakers, I asked what other groups were present and the presence of some children in school uniform was indicated. I had seen the children and assumed they were observers to the proceeding which is allowed and even educative.

“I said and insisted children are not allowed to give uncorroborated evidence in court and that the school children being minors would not be allowed to talk on an issue that could easily be resolved by adults. Please note that apart from being minors, the children submitted no memorandum as individuals or as a group and did not represent any group. The public hearing was specifically on the Tobacco Bill; all other issues were irrelevant unless it directly affected our understanding of the Tobacco issue in Nigeria.”

“According to the sixth edition of the Columbia Encyclopaedia, 2008, the age of consent is the age which according to the law, persons are bound by their words and acts. Below the minor age, unless there are extenuating circumstances, children are not allowed to give evidence in court. On a comparative level, legislative investigations in a Presidential system are fashioned after law courts and Senate Committees here and in the US are allowed to subpoena persons and do have legal backing as courts.

“Committee findings can lead to various reprimands and sanctions and can be followed by arrest. It is a criminal offence to lie before a legislative committee. We are allowed to ask people to take oath if deemed necessary. Senate Committees are allowed to make their own rules as long as it follows the rules of the Senate. Deciding who will speak in the Senate chambers is the prerogative of the Senate President and in a committee room; it is the prerogative of the Chairman of the committee,” she said. She added, “Order 64 of the standing rules of the Senate 2003, says ‘the President in the Senate and Chairman in any Committee shall be responsible for the observance of the rules of the Order in the Senate and Committee respectively and their decision upon any point of order shall not be open to appeal and shall not be reviewed by the Senate except upon a substantive motion after notice.’

“Age of consent is important to protect children from exploitation. It is generally agreed that children can be easily manipulated and their opinions tutored and I don’t believe this is my idea as it is normal in all jurisdictions across the world not to unnecessarily expose children to adult issues such as violence and sexual content. I don’t think I am saying anything that is not universally accepted to say children can be easily influenced.

“To obtain testimony from a minor, the parent or guardian has to be present or there must be verifiable written consent from them. Taking a child out of school on a school day on an issue where there was no disagreement like protecting children from tobacco is insensitive on the part of the people that did it and it’s against the welfare of the children. Middle class people usually do not do this to their children but it’s the children of poorer people that are pulled from school and brought to a hearing room on an issue they do not need to participate in.

“Will these same people allow their own children to be taken out of school for such matter? I am a mother and I will not let any school allow my child to be taken for such an event. The best child right is not about exposing children to undue interference but in letting them grow up to have their own opinions and make their minds up about ideas on their own. That is the essence of the right to Freedom of Expression in the 1999 Constitution alluded to by Mrs. Uwais.

“It is actually child exploitation to subject children to give testimony to prove one’s point especially when the protection of the children from smoking was not a part of the bill that was being disputed. If the children lost confidence from not being allowed to talk in the senate, it was the fault of the people that brought them without clearing or following laid down rules by the committee.

“In order to forestall rancorous and unnecessary disputations during committee hearings, it is the norm to always ask for prior submission of memo before the hearing date so that stakeholders can be listed and if need be appropriately advised. This was not the case with these school children in uniforms during school hours without a tinge of evidence of their parents/guardians consent.”

Obasanjo-Bello continued: “After I made my decision not to allow the children to speak, Mrs. Uwais wrote a note to Senator Mamora who was sitting to my right and he showed me the note and whispered to my ears that I should let the children speak based on the note, I reiterated my point to the audience and moved on. Several minutes later, Mrs. Uwais again sent a note to Senator Ekaette, sitting on my left, showed me another note from Mrs. Uwais but advised that I should go on with the hearing as she was leaving for another committee commitment. I again made my point about not allowing children to speak. Must one listen to Mrs. Uwais’ advocacy for child’s rights in a matter involving Tobacco?”

Consider her summation of the Uwais opposition: “Apparently, I am being blackmailed since last week in national newspapers because I didn’t allow Mrs. Uwais to have her way. My authority as chair of the Committee means nothing to Mrs. Uwais if she is not allowed to have her way or I let the children talk. The hearing was not about children’s right but Tobacco; why should we divert the proceedings to child rights so she would have her way.”

Her conclusion: “Finally, under the United Nations convention on the rights of the child, a child is anyone under the age of 18 and these children need to be protected from exploitation. It is in line with the rules of the Senate as well as under common law not to allow children give uncorroborated evidence. There was no compelling reason to allow the children to give evidence since the issue of tobacco negatively affecting children and health generally was not controverted by anyone at the hearing….

“In consonance with the rules of the Senate, it is my prerogative to allow anyone to talk as the Senate President also has the prerogative to allow any senator or anyone else to talk as he deems fit. By all standards, local and international, public hearings are no place for children. Almost all national issues, directly or indirectly, affect children and that does not mean that we must parade children to give their opinions on all issues.

“Everything from economy to violence in our society affects children but we don’t necessarily parade them before the Senate when such are being discussed. I lived in the US when some of the tobacco hearings were being conducted in the US senate and I never saw children give evidence. I don’t know why in Nigeria with the prominent breaches of the child’s rights, the so called activists for children’s rights cannot do anything to make us feel their impact.

“In all this, I see lack of knowledge of legislative process, rules and procedure. The tobacco bill had a good public hearing and there is no need to create an issue where none exists: not even from a seeming outsider…who weeps louder than the bereaved. I plead with Mrs. Uwais to leave this matter alone and move on to many of the breaches of the Child’s Right Act that occur every day and lead to serious physical and emotional damage to children.” Will this controversy abate or it will continue to dominate the public space over and above the real issue of controlling Tobacco production, manufacture, sale, advertising, promotion, et al?

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CONFESSION OF A TOBACCO EXECUTIVE

By BETTY ABAH

I stand this day, before, not only you, fellow colleagues and executives, but before my conscience and the inscrutable eyes of History. I stand condemned, lampooned and almost lifeless.
I am resigning my position as Chief Executive Officer of the Western Cigarettes International Company here, knowing now that the party for me, for us and the illegal trade of the most advertised, yet one of the most dangerous substances known to man, is over. And because the weight in my heart can no longer allow me to continue to work as CEO.
I’ll tell you a story before I walk out the door this cold and uncomfortable morning.
Last night, my eight-year old son who attends the British Make-Over Worldwide School here in Lagos walked up to me, hands akimbo.
“Daddy, is it true that you are a murderer?” He asked.
I was shell shocked, but mustered the strength to ask him “Why, Brandy? Who the hell put that idea in your small head?”
“It’s Johnny, my class mate. He said his Daddy told him that you make a product that kills people, and that you have already killed millions of people world wide. Dad, do you kill people for a living?”
Before I could collect myself, my son proceeded to give me a lecture in morality, and queried why I sell packaged death. But unlike his mother (from whom I am now divorced, any way), I couldn’t shout him down and argue my way through. I was caught in a trough of condemnation.
With unsteady hands I walked into my study, slumped into a chair, and the result of the soul searching that followed is the paper I hold in my hand today.
(Oh, yes, I divorced his mother for pissing me off all the time, yelling at me to get out of the controversial business of marketing disease and death through addiction. And she never failed to remind me daily that I neither smoke nor allow our son to, yet work day and night to addict other people’s children. Two years ago, I filed for divorce).
You may I am throwing in the towel particularly because of the nightmarish turn of events in Nigeria , our biggest market in Sub-Saharan Africa. In your minds, you may have already condemned me, thinking it’s because of the recent hearing at the National Assembly on the National Tobacco Control Bill, a huge bad news for our business if allowed to be passed because it will mean stricter legislation, no doubt, what with high taxes, gory pictures of cancerous bodies on tobacco packs, ban on smoking in ALL public places, and the stuff that just anybody could sue us for damage.
You might even have assumed that it’s because of the outcome of our last meeting when, in despair, we analyzed the impact of the recent Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act passed by the US Congress which will empower the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco like hard drugs! No doubt, it is historical and will bring a sweeping change not only to tobacco use in the USA , but send ripple effects world wide. It perhaps fulfills, in installment, the prophecy of one of our repentant former executive that tobacco will be outlawed one day. But that is not exactly why I am leaving.
I haven’t related this fully before, but the fact is that I have killed people, old and young, in installments, for three decades. I started out in North Carolina , the biggest tobacco farming state in the USA as a salesman. So immense was my marketing skill that in five years, I had enlisted 10 of my friends and 12 family members into the smoking club (by the way, five are already dead of lung cancer), emerged as the district’s ‘Best Marketer of the Year’ thrice and had been employed as a senior marketing personnel in St. Moses Incorporated. That was about 30 years ago, a decade after the US Surgeon-General, for the first time, declared that smoking was dangerous to health. In the 20 years that I worked in the USA , we battled all kinds of opposition in the face of emerging knowledge. But we found ways round the missiles including the 1971 ban on tobacco advertising on television and radio and the 1988 rules against smoking on airline flights. And of course, the 1998 $206 Billion “Master Settlement” agreement that seven tobacco companies reached with 46 states in 1998 to resolve lawsuits and change their marketing practices. The media hawks were also on our necks, revealing secret industry documents which outlined how we planned to addict youngsters, the use of the different flavours to attract target groups, the cliché about 60 carcinogens and 4,000 toxins in cigarette smokes bla bla bla. Life itself is a battlefront, isn’t it?
But we soldiered. Soon we discovered the developing nations with their low level of health education, weak legislations and ‘flexible’ government officials would provide economic shoulders to weep on.
And, in no time I was easily spotted as one with the business acumen to explore the vast and fertile Chinese market. By the time I left China , five years later, the Asian giant had become one of our greatest success stories, with billions of dollars rolling in yearly. But in retrospect now, I remember that we had also contributed significantly in preparing China to grow into the epicenter of a tobacco epidemic. As at the last count, if you remember, the WHO says China has the highest rate of tobacco-related mortality globally with one million people dying every year from cancers of the lungs, bladder, heart disease, stroke, emphysema, gangrene and countless other tobacco-induced ailments. Not to talk of the thousands of others sickened and killed via second hand tobacco smoke.
In any case, I went on to consolidate our company’s success in India . Our experiment with ‘refined bidi’ and also other forms of smokeless tobacco became the model for the horde of international companies converging and feeding fat on other Third World economies. But I had to leave four years later despite the breakthroughs there. It was also too obvious that India was about exploding: one billion sticks of cigarettes up in smoke every day; highest incidence of oral cancer in the world; One third of all cancer patients in the world based in India ; 1 out of 10 Indian adults dying of tobacco related diseases. These WHO-backed statistics were more than we could chew and the activists’ bickering became more than we could swallow, so I picked my suitcase and left.
It was then I got called on the Nigerian mission. And the rest, you know, is recent history.
I have understandably been so mad by the activities of the irritants here called the anti-tobacco activists, to erode the monumental success we‘ve recorded in less than a decade of our re-entry into Nigeria . As you know, Mr. Sanjo, the ex-while ruler spoilt us silly. Of course in 2000, he left behind state matters to come to our head office in order to sign our MOU bringing us to his country as ‘foreign investors’. I remember that night, the other executives and I had a loud Champaign party in London and wondered if Africans would ever learn. We couldn’t help but marveled how a country would give us such a presidential welcome when we were being driven from ours! Who were his advisers? Anyway, that was his business. After all, ours was cigarette making and marketing.
And, you still remember all our marketing gimmicks, how we targeted youths through musical and sporting events, women through fashion shows, and bombarded everyone through aggressive advertising. We also hyped our corporate image through a contrived CSR. Whenever our activities are questioned, we put up the usual defense about smoking being a matter of choice. But, c’mon, it’s no secret that when someone comes into contact with a nicotine-laced cigarette, he no longer has a choice other than to drag and drag and drag until he/she is dragged into the grave! I am still amazed the world bought that dummy from us in the first place.
Well, I must say in the last seven years I have enjoyed the famous Nigerian hospitality. In the office here, I have enjoyed your cooperation, your camaraderie and team spirits. But today, I leave this question for you; ‘Are you prepared to ask the stigma-tainted question that I couldn’t face last night?’ For sooner or later, they will ask you. You may want to ruminate on that, and walk out the way that I soon will. Or sit still, in shame.
I cannot be a part of my son’s future, for that future is full of questions, stigma and naked shame. But please tell him, by the time I am gone, that I died a broken and remorseful man. Tell him that I really was a murderer, but then I died a repented murderer. Perhaps he can right the wrongs by salvaging his generation, by telling them about the death that lurks in tobacco use, the same death I marketed for three decades. No, I am not fit to live.

Abah is a Project Officer and Gender Focal Person with Environmental Rights Action (ERA). Presenter of Tobacco & You

Uwais’ wife tackles Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello over tobacco bill

By Yusuf Alli

The wife of a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mrs. Maryam Uwais, yesterday faulted the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, for barring school pupils from contributing to the debate on the National Tobacco Control Bill before the Senate.
She spoke through a protest letter to Senate President David Mark on the alleged prohibition of pupils from contributing to the bill on July 20 and 21.
The letter reads in part: "You may recall that a public hearing was held on the 20th and 21st of July on a proposed National Tobacco Control Bill, sponsored by Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, which proceedings were held under the auspices of the Committee of Health, chaired by your good self.
"Several stakeholders, representing different organisations, interests and various jurisdictions of Nigeria participated in the hearing, which fact in itself, demonstrated the significance and timeliness of the contents of this very important piece of legislation.
"Being a member of the African Union Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, I was delighted when I noticed that there were young persons (from a senior secondary school class, as I was made to understand) in the audience, who signified that they intended to contribute to the discussions at the hearing.
"To my consternation, however, they were roundly rejected by no other person than you.
" Indeed, you proceeded to state, four times, what your reasons were for puncturing their enthusiasm in such a dismissive manner, even though from the first time (and each time) you spoke to the issue, you ended your statement with ‘no more will be said on this matter’.
"You declined any observations or contributions on the issue from the floor (or indeed, as I noticed, from your distinguished colleagues), concluding that you were correct in your assertions that pupils could not be permitted to participate in the discussions on the merits and demerits of the provisions of that bill.
"Your reasons, if I may recall, were that you were a mother yourself, and so felt the need to ‘protect’ children.
"You stated that you would not allow children to be ‘used’ or ‘paraded’ before the committee; and that even in the law courts, the evidence of a child would need to be corroborated during a trial.
"Besides, in your view, since adults were present and knew what the issues were, there was absolutely no need for a person under the age of 18 to participate in the proceedings.
"To further support your assertions, you added that at hearings in the Senate, persons who intended to contribute could be compelled to swear oaths on the scriptures relevant to their faiths, which in your understanding, was another excuse for denying them the right to be heard on an issue that concerns them.
"In conclusion, you mentioned that the Child Rights Act did not allow for children to speak at such forum. I am constrained to join issues with you on your position, even because your assertions run contrary to known laws, norms and emerging trends when it comes to children and young persons, their freedom to express themselves and their participation in matters that concern them.
"The unfortunate statement that those young persons were ‘brought along’ to the hearing for the purposes of being ‘used’ or ‘paraded’ was presumptuous, to say the least, as they certainly did not look like they were coerced, uncomfortable or were present in the hearing room against their wishes.
But I will not say more on this point, as it would only distract from the aim of this letter.
"The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees every citizen, children inclusive, their freedom of expression under Section 39.
"The Constitution certainly does not preclude children from the enjoyment of this fundamental right, as I am certain you would agree that children are also persons. Indeed, the Child Rights Act, 2003, fortifies this position clearly by its Section 3.
"Moreover, S. 19 of this same Child Rights Act, 2003, categorically provides that:
(1) ‘Every child has responsibilities towards his family and society, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other legalised communities, nationally and internationally. These responsibilities include, under (2) (c) & (d), placing his or her physical and intellectual abilities at the service of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, contributing to the moral well-being of the society and respecting the ideals of democracy, freedom, equality, humaneness, honesty and justice for all persons.’
"About 200 child rights clubs have been established all over the country, to promote representation, association and participation by building children’s capacities and competencies. This, it is hoped, would enable them act effectively as peer educators and would further boost their confidence and self-esteem preparatory to holding the sundry responsibilities of citizenship and adulthood. Children’s views on national issues have been encouraged through debates, essay competitions and art exhibitions, while special events and programs have been designed and supported by the Government, all with the aim of ensuring their effective participation in National life.
"Children and young persons have been involved in many governmental and non-governmental activities, including the promotion of the awareness of HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and the development of life skills among adolescents, while the electronic and print media have created specific spaces for children to express themselves.
None of the aforementioned efforts are considered harmful exposure, neither has any organisation or government body which involves children in its constructive activities, been accused of ‘parading’ children in pursuance of some unsubstantiated motive."
On oath taking, Mrs. Uwais said: "As a senator, you do know that a public hearing is an opportunity for interested stakeholders to participate in the business of lawmaking, even so that laws are made with input from those in whose interests the laws are made.
"A public hearing is, therefore, not a court of law, as you so strenuously sought to affirm. Indeed, heavy weather was made of proceedings relating to children in a courtroom, which points were not quite clear, despite your repeated references to that scenario.

SOURCE

Health minister, senators want ban on tobacco

-AMOS DUNIA

Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin has described the economic argument for the production of tobacco in Nigeria as making nonsense of the risk it portends to the people.

Prof. Osotimehin, who stated this at an interactive dinner, organized by Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora in conjunction with Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria, to support the ‘National Tobacco Control Bill’, said the time has come for Nigeria to do everything possible to ban tobacco production in the country.

The Minister of Health lamented the havoc cigarette smoking has caused the nation, saying that while tobacco companies employed about 20,000 people, their products kill an average of 100,000 people per annum, a development he said is unacceptable to Nigeria.He said on assumption of office, he made it clear to British American Tobacco (BAT) that visited him, seeking a working relationship, that there was no way such an understanding can take place because of the overall health interest of the people.

According to Osotimehin, “I want to tell you that I am very passionate about anti-tobacco legislation. The British-American Tobacco (BAT) people once came to talk to me on how we could work together but I said no! I cannot work with BAT people because the human cost of tobacco is enormous.We should do everything possible to ban tobacco smoking because it does not add value at all. Some people talk about the economic value of tobacco companies, but I don’t believe there is any economic value because when they employ 20,000 people, they kill 100,000.”

He, therefore, urged Nigerians, particularly those in positions of authority, to work hard to ensure that Nigeria do not add to the burden already being suffered from HIV infections. The minister, therefore, assured that the Federal Government through the Ministry of Health would throw its weight behind the Anti-Tobacco Bill.

Earlier in his address, convener of the interactive session, Senator Mamora, noted that the United States of America, the highest consumer of tobacco, had legislated against tobacco, stressing that the fact remains that a poison remains a poison no matter how it is coloured.

According to Senator Mamora, “It is worrisome that tobacco companies are leaving the developed countries for the less developed, particularly Africa with Nigeria being the largest market, owing to lack of adequate legislation to curb the danger it portends on the citizenry.

In her remarks, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, assured that her committee has put in motion necessary arrangements to ensure the passage of the National Tobacco Control Bill with a view to enthroning a regime of health safety in the country.

FG to Stop Tobacco Smoking
Inalegwu Shaibu

Abuja — The Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin yesterday revealed the Federal Government's commitment to check the consumption of tobacco in the country, just as the Senate Committee on Health also disclosed that it had perfected arrangement to ensure the passage of the National Tobacco Control Bill.

Professor Osotimehin who spoke at an interactive session organised by the sponsor of the Bill, Senator Olurunimbe Mamora in Abuja decried the huge impact of the harmful effect tobacco smoking is having on the citizens.

He said the government being conscious of the security and welfare of the people, would do anything to pass the law against tobacco consumption.

He said, "I want to tell you that I am very passionate about anti-tobacco legislation. This British-American Tobacco (BAT) people once came to talk to me on how we could work together but I said no! I cannot work with BAT people because the human cost of tobacco is enormous. We should do everything possible to ban tobacco smoking because it does not add value at all.

"Some people talk about the economic value of tobacco companies but I don't believe there is any economic value because when they employ 20,000 people, they kill 100,000.

Govt committed to checking tobacco usage, says minister

- Azimazi Momoh Jimoh

THE Minister of Health, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, has said the Federal Government is committed to enacting laws to check and control the consumption of tobacco in the country.
Also, the Senate Committee on Health said it had perfected arrangements to ensure the passage of the National Tobacco Control Bill with a view to enthroning a regime of health safety in the country.
At an interactive session convened by sponsor of the bill, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, for stakeholders at the Transcorp Hotel in Abuja on Wednesday night, Osotimehin lamented the havoc done to human health by tobacco-smoking, noting that the government would do everything possible to get a law passed against tobacco consumption.
He said: "I want to tell you that I am very passionate about anti-tobacco legislation. This British-American Tobacco (BAT) people once came to talk to me on how we could work together. But I said 'no', I cannot work with BAT people because the human cost of tobacco is enormous.
"We should do everything possible to ban tobacco smoking because it does not add value at all. Some people talk about the economic value of tobacco companies, but I don't believe there is any economic value because when they employ 20,000 people, they kill 100,000. We should try as much as possible not to do things that will add to the burden we suffer from HIV. So, we will try and put our weight behind this bill".
In a remark, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, said her committee would give the bill a serious attention in view of the urgent need to rescue Nigerians from some unhealthy practices.
Citing Section 17 of the 1999 Constitution, Bello said the government owed it a primary duty to ensure the safety of its citizens, adding that this should include health safety.
Mamora, in his remark, noted that even the United States of America, which was the highest consumer of tobacco, had legislated against tobacco.
"One thing we cannot run away from is that a poison remains a poison, no matter what happens. There is no slight poison. And we are saying that tobacco is a poison", Mamora said.
Senator Jibrin Aminu on his part urged the Federal Government to simply close down all tobacco companies in the country because of their ill effects to the society.
Aminu, who said he quit smoking since 1963, advised the government not to adopt the United States' approach because, according to him, the U.S. simply increased the taxes paid by tobacco companies, a situation which he noted, would only transfer the tax burden to the consumers.
Aminu said: "I don't like that approach, we should discourage and prevent it completely. We should not be deceived by the sweet messages propagated by these tobacco companies".