Senate denies bribery allegation on tobacco law

BY ABDUL-RAHMAN ABUBAKAR & TURAKI A. HASSAN

No senator has been bribed to influence the passage or otherwise of the National Tobacco Control Bill, Senate President David Mark said yesterday while declaring the public hearing on the bill open.

Senator Mark said the issue of checking cigarette smoking was contentious as there are global lobbyists for ban of tobacco smoking as there are also organisations against the ban saying, "I have heard all sorts of stories about lobbyists trying to see that the public hearing does not go on, or that lobbyists insist that the public hearing must go on.

We must begin to accept that our legislators are patriotic Nigerians they don't need to take money in any form to do anything at all. There is too much rumour in the air, rumour based on nothing absolutely.

If you have a strong case, make your case, when you fail to make your case then you go with the excuse that people have been bribed that that has happened nobody is going to bribe anybody on any bill that will come before the Senate or the House of Representatives any bill that comes here will pass through the normal process."

The Senate President expressed reservation on the bill saying "I will remain neutral on this bill because the two key issues are health versus economy. How many jobs can we provide from the tobacco industry? How many people are going to lose their jobs now if the tobacco industries are not able to produce in this country? More importantly, if the tobacco Industries here close down, will it stop Nigerians from smoking? There are so many issues that have to be considered. Trying to stop Nigerians from smoking is one thing, getting the industry going so that people can be gainfully employed is another thing."

Several speakers at the hearing including tobacco farmers, host communities of tobacco companies as well as business organisations expressed fears that placing ban on the industry will create unemployment and adversely affect the economy.

But in his presentation, representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Soyinka said the industry has impacted negatively on the health of the nation and has adversely affected the economy through spread of diseases.

‘6.5 million Nigerians may die from tobacco addiction’

By Inalegwu Shaibu

ABUJA — The Senate Committee on Health, yesterday, heard that an estimated 6.5 million Nigerians are on death row due to tobacco addiction.

This figure was given by Mr. Aknibode Oluwafemi, Programme Manager of Environmental Rights Actions/Friends of the Earth in a presentation to the Senate Committee on Health at the two-day public hearing on the bill to amend the National Tobacco Control Act, in Abuja.

Oluwafemi also told the Committee that the result of study conducted in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Ibadan had shown an increase in number of youth smokers to alarming 26 per cent, saying two people die every day in Lagos from tobacco related diseases.

He said: "The National Control Bill is a bold step towards addressing tobacco use and its attendant's health, social, economic and environmental cost. Adult smoking rate in Nigeria is put at 17 per cent."

Earlier in her remark, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, stressed on the need to regulate tobacco smoking in Nigeria due to its harmful effect on the health on Nigerians.

She said" "There is no doubt right now about the health effects of tobacco. I think that the world has come to a consensus that we can all agree that there is some detrimental health effects of tobacco and it took a long time for the world to get to this point.

35m Nigerians may die smoking

By MOSHOOD ADEBAYO

The health implications of smoking have been reiterated with the World Health Organization (WHO) putting the number of Nigerians that are likely to die from tobacco-related diseases in the next 10 years at 35 million.

Since 1962, there have been damning reports about the health hazards of smoking. For example, the Royal College of Physicians attributes cigarette smoking to cause lung cancer and bronchitis.
According to the College, cigarette smoking is the most likely cause of the recent world-wide increase in deaths from lung cancer."
This was the submission of the counsel to the Ogun State Government, Barrister Bashir Ramon during a one-day enlightenment workshop by the Environmental Rights Action and the Coalition Against Tobacco in Abeokuta.

He spoke just as participants at the workshop commended the state government for litigation against tobacco companies in Nigeria.
Quoting from the WHO, Barrister Ramon also disclosed that 175 million people in the world may also die as a result of related diseases.

"It is alarming, sad and must be prevented. With 175 million people in the world who may likely die of the same related diseases, our government should not fold her arms and allow the havoc to continue," he said.
He also told participants that out of four Africans, there is a Nigerian, meaning that in the total population of Africans; (175 million), Nigeria has one quarter of it. "If you look at this, you would discover that Nigeria has a greater number of people facing the terrible effect of tobacco smoking," he noted.
Shedding light on why the state government had gone to court, Ramon said: "We are not in court for monetary sake. We are in court for the betterment of our people and future of our young ones who are innocently smoking their future."

"Our prayers in the court are that tobacco products are injurious to human health. We are also praying the High Court to stop tobacco companies from advertising and selling their products to the youths in the country".
Explaining further, he said: "Monetary relieve is divided into various strata. The state government is seeking relieve for the expenses she has incurred in the past 20 years and the expenses they are likely to incur in the next 20 years.

"The fact before us shows that they have less than 1000 Nigerian employees. When you consider the population of Nigerians, which is conservatively put at 140 million. Unfortunately, this marginal figure would be producing a product that would affect the lives of over 140 million people. It is sad. It not reasonable"

Ban on tobacco: Senators to vote by name, says Mark

Ayodele Adegbuyi

Senate President, David Mark, has said that when the decision on whether to ban tobacco smoking would be taken at plenary, "every senator will vote... by name."
Mark, who declared open a two-day public hearing on the amendment of Tobacco Control Act 1990, also said that the vote of senators will depend on where each stands between health and economy.
He, however, noted that there was intense pressure from either side, but cautioned those allegedly spreading the rumour that the legislators might have been gratified to sway their vote on the bill.
He said: "Every senator will answer his name. It is not a Bill to be decided by voice vote. Everybody will be made to say 'yes' or 'no' so that the pubic will know where we stand on topical issues like this.
"For a serious bill like this to go through the next reading, people will have to really say where they stand.
"We stand between health and economy that is the truth of the matter. People who are against it are worried about the impact on the health of Nigerians and people who are for it are saying well, the nation stands to benefit from it. The simple question is, 'when do you begin to worry about economy is it when you are dead or when you are alive? And we have to take that decision.
"For me, I am very neutral in this exercise, absolutely neural, and thank God, I don't vote. But the fact remains that all over the world, there appears to be some level of resistance against smoking and people are told in very clear terms that if they do, they take a personal risk.
" Of course, individuals have a right to do what they want. But whether an individual has a right to do something that will affect his life and at the end lead to death is another.
"I admit that there are strong lobbyists on both sides. No doubt about that. The manufacturers are lobbying, likewise those who are against it.
"There are so many things to be considered. Trying to stop Nigerians from smoking is one thing, getting the industry going so that people can be gainfully employed is another thing."

Groups rally support for tobacco bill

Over 40 civil society groups, legal practitioners and public healthadvocates are gearing up to storm the Senate Hearing Room of theNational Assembly Complex, Abuja, on July 21 and 22 to present theirmemorandum in support of the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB).

This is coming barely 24 hours after the Senate Committee on Healthcalled for interested members of the public and stakeholders to sendin a list of interested members to appear before it. Groups that have already indicated interest include the NigerianHeart Foundation, Nigerian Cancer Society, Smoke-free Foundation,Abuja, Nigerian Tobacco Control Alliance, Environmental Rights Action,and the Nigerian Association of Nurses and Midwives among others.

International groups that have also rallied in support of the billand sent in a memorandum are the Africa Tobacco Control RegionalInitiative, Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), U.S.-based Campaignfor Tobacco-Free Kids and the Corporate Accountability International.

The bill, sponsored by Deputy Minority Leader, Senator OlorunimbeMamora, will completely domesticate the WHO Framework Convention onTobacco Control (FCTC), which Nigeria signed in 2004 and ratified in2005 but is yet to fully domesticate in Nigeria.

It will make also it an offence to sell or market tobacco products topersons under the age of 18 years and impose a fine not exceedingN50,000 or imprisonment of a term not exceeding six months or both onviolators.

It also prohibits all advertisements, sponsorships, testimonials andpromotion of cigarettes in the country.

According to the Programme Manager, Environmental RightsAction/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Akinbode Oluwafemi,“the public hearing is another landmark development in efforts tocheckmate a gale of deaths induced by tobacco products after theoverwhelming support that the bill received in the Senate some monthsago.”

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Public hearing on Tobacco Bill begins at Senate tomorrow

From Charles Coffie-Gyamfi

THE first public hearing on the proposed National Tobacco Control Bill holds at the Senate tomorrow.

Senator Olurunnibe Mamora has sponsored the bill at the Upper House to check unrestricted marketing, selling and smoking of tobacco in whatever form.

A World Health Organsation (WHO) research has shown that 175 million people would die in the next 10 years as a result of tobacco smoking.

The bill, which has received strong support from the Environmental Right Action (ERA) and Coalition Against Tobacco, two non-governmental organisation (NGOs), aims at ensuring that long-term damaging effects of tobacco on its smokers is curtailed.

Co-ordinator of Coalition Against Tobacco, Mrs. Olatoyosi Onaolapo, who spoke with journalists at the weekend in Abeokuta, disclosed that the organisation had embarked on intensive lobbying to ensure the passage of the bill as a matter of urgency.

"We are in touch with the sponsor of the bill and we have made our input into the drafts. Smoking in public places, unrestricted marketing and sales and smoking by under-aged youths will be prohibited when the bill is eventually passed", she remarked.

According to Onaolapo, Nigeria is one of the countries where there is no legislation against tobacco smoking and marketing, noting that past pronouncements by past governments had never been followed by action.

NIGERIA: A BILL FOR AN ACT TO AMEND TOBACCO CONTROL ACT

The Bill Seeks to repeal the Tobacco Control Act 1990 Cap. T16 Laws of the Fedaration and to Enact the National Tobacco Bill 2009 to provide for the regulation or Control of Production, Manufacture, Sale, Advertising, Promotion, and Sponsorship of Tobacco or Tobacco Product in Nigeria.