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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Tobacco Remains Harmful to People's Helath

'Anti-tobacco bill is still alive'

By Michael Orie and Wole Oyebade

ANTI-TOBACCO activists, under the aegis of Environmental Rights Action / Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), have debunked the purported 'death' of the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) at the National Assembly, insisting that the bill was still under consideration before the Senate Committee on Health.
Their reaction came in the wake of Senator Kamaldeen Adedibu's insinuation to the effect that the bill, which has passed the public hearing stage, "is dead."
At a media briefing in Lagos yesterday, Programme Manager, ERA, Oluwafemi Akinbode, said: "Contrary to the lies and deception of the statements credited to the senator, the NTCB 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, 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 seeks to derail the enactment of law that would protect the lives of Nigerians and also curtail the industry's criminal activities."
ERA described Adedibu's comments as "inflammatory, albeit deceitful, reckless, misleading and totally false."
The National Tobacco Control Bill 2009, sponsored by Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora (Lagos East), seeks to provide the regulation or control of production, manufacture, sale, advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco or tobacco products in Nigeria and other related matters.
The bill also seeks to prohibit sale of cigarette to persons under 18; sale of tobacco products through vending machines; and sale of cigarette in single sticks;
It also seeks to prohibit all forms of tobacco advertisement, sponsorship and promotion, endorsements or testimonials, sale promotions; and smoking in public places, among others.
Akinbode also disclosed that a two-day public hearing was organised by the Senate Committee on Health headed by Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello on July 20 to 21, 2009, with the Federal Ministry of Health leading government agencies to lend support for the bill.
His words: "In all, over 40 Non-Government Organizations (NGO) presented memoranda supporting the bill and asking for its speedy passage. Besides, there were words of commendation and support for the bill from five International NGOs; Campaign for Tobacco Free kids (CTFK), Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), Corporate Accountability International (CAI), African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA) and the African Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI).
"Besides the tobacco Industry, only Senator Adedibu, who represents the Oyo South Federal Constituency, expressed his opposition, hinging his reason on loss of jobs and vowing to oppose the bill even if that would be the only thing he would do in the Senate.
"The committee has not presented the bill to the plenary and we know for a fact that there was supposed to be a retreat on the result of the public hearing but for the recent political developments in the country. Therefore the bill has not been voted on by the Senate plenary, how then did it die?"
African regional coordinator, Framework Convention Alliance, Adeola Akinremi, disclosed that the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that tobacco kills 5.4 million people every year and if current trend continues, it would kill more than eight million people.
In 2006, from a survey carried out in 11 Lagos State government-owned hospitals, it was discovered that at least two persons die each day from a tobacco-related disease. Also in one single year, about 10 000 cases of tobacco-disease was recorded in Lagos.
Akinremi said: "All we need to do is extrapolate that figure all over the country and we will have an idea of the epidemic we are dealing with.
"ERA/FoEN wishes to condemn in its totality the activities of Senator Adedibu. We demand that he immediately cease from making such statements and ask the Senate leadership to investigate his allegations.
"However, while we still have trust in the Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello-led committee, we are constrained to be apprehensive about the long delay in presenting the bill at plenary. This is the time to complete work on this public health bill. This is the only way to show the world that the committee has not been compromised by the tobacco industry as Senator Adedibu has insinuated.
"Nigerians are dying by the seconds due to tobacco addition while tobacco manufacturers smile to the banks. Every delay is more deaths, more ill-health."

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Senator Adedibu and burden of history

Senator Kamarudeen Adedibu representing Oyo South Constituency has been in the news recently not for sponsoring a bill or contributing to a worthwhile debate but for doing something that leaves a burnt taste in the mouth.
Recently at a public relations event by the British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) in Iseyin, Mr. Adedibu said categorically that the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB), sponsored by respected and distinguished Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, is dead. Curiously, he went ahead to say the ‘dead’ bill is intended to close down the tobacco industry and with it the jobs of over 600,000 Nigerians who directly derive livelihood from the tobacco industry.
Earlier in July 2009, at a two-day public hearing on the bill organised by the Senate Committee on Health, Mr Adedibu had made the same allegations. Let me state categorically that the statements credited to Mr Adedibu are in bad taste, anti public health and irresponsible of a federal legislator.
The allegations he made are baseless.
Firstly, the NTCB is not about closing down the tobacco industry but about regulating the operations of a company whose product kills 5.4 million people every year. It is about protecting the lives of millions of Nigerian children, who are being targeted to become smokers, those who also labour on a twelve hour shift in the tobacco plantations in Oyo State, represented by Mr. Adedibu.
The bill is to domesticate the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) a treaty of the World Health Organisation (WHO) that seeks to protect the lives of the people from the dangers of tobacco use. Every responsible government the world over has passed one law or another on this.
President Obama has signed two bills into law in one year, limiting the activities of the tobacco industry.
Secondly, the Senate Committee on Health is still working on the bill, which is due to be presented to the House plenary any time from now. How did the Senator get his information that the bill is dead? His motive is to rubbish and tarnish the image of the members of that committee and influence the outcomes of the report to favour the tobacco industry. He has grossly erred against his colleagues and the leadership of the Senate must call him to order immediately.
He has mischievously insisted that the bill is to close down the industry. That means he has not seen even the cover of the bill. Nowhere in the bill was it suggested that the industry should close down. The tobacco industry itself has praised the bill and acknowledged it was not aimed at closing it down. At the public hearing the industry representatives made that clear.
Thirdly, the tobacco industry represented by Tony Okonji at the public hearing stated that it employs less than 1,000 Nigerians. Mr Adedibu has lied to his constituency and Nigerians. I now join the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth to call on him to voluntarily tender his resignation if he has any honour left in him.
How much lower can a senator go? If Mr. Adedibu has turned against the popular culture of investing in the health of the people, of curtailing the activities of the tobacco industry and limiting the inherent dangers, why should we not accuse him of doing the dirty jobs for the tobacco industry? Why should we not ask him to step down while his constituency asks for an account of his stewardship in the Senate?
What about the children age 5-21 years wasting away their prime on the tobacco farms in Irawo Owode. Mr Adedibu should be ashamed of himself for fighting against a bill that would change that situation and for his blind support for the tobacco industry, a rogue industry condemned and ostracized all over the world for the death and disease its products have been shown to cause, but embraced and loved by Mr Kamarudeen Adedibu representing Oyo South Federal Constituency.
Seun Akioye is a media officer at the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria.

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Anti-tobacco group calls for resignation of senator

By Ben Ezeamalu

A nongovernmental organisation, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), has called for the resignation of Kamorudeen Adedibu, a senator representing Oyo West Senatorial district.
The group alleged that the senator lied to his constituency and the Nigerian populace that the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) currently before the National Assembly is dead.
Mr. Adedibu, who was recently at Iseyin Oyo State, to present the keys of a tractor to a farmer as part of the Farmers’ Tractor Scheme of the British American Tobacco Iseyin Agronomy, had earlier alleged that the aim of the bill was to close down tobacco companies in the country, the group said.
‘Baseless and misleading statement’
The nongovernmental organisation, in a statement issued in Lagos, described the senator’s statement as ‘baseless and misleading’ and intended to deceive his constituency and rubbish the Senate.
“This is extremely disappointing of a senator. That Mr. Adedibu who was at the public hearing still continues to feed the public lies that the bill will close down the tobacco industry shows that he did not read the contents of the bill and therefore is not competent to comment on it,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, ERA/FoEN’s Programme Manager.
Mr. Oluwafemi said that the senator has shown utter disregard for one of the most important life saving bills and questioned his competence.
“It is on record that even the United States government under President Obama has signed into law two bills protecting the young and vulnerable (from) the dangers of tobacco smoking in just one year of his administration. How come Mr. Adedibu is daily wishing Nigeria more deaths from tobacco smoking?” he asked.
Mr. Oluwafemi noted that the senator’s comment is an indication that Nigerians are in for another season of lies, adding that “at a time he said the jobs of 400,000 people was on line because of the bill. Now he is saying 600,000. Where is he getting these spurious figures from? Let him show Nigerians where he obtained the figures.”
Passage of bill imperative
Reiterating ERA/FoEN’s call for the National Assembly to expedite action on the NTCB, Mr. Oluwafemi maintained that the text of the bill does not in any way indicate a closure of tobacco companies, but rather, is in line with global trend which has linked declined tobacco-related deaths with strict tobacco control laws.

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ERA FLAYS ADEDIBU ON ANTI-TOBACCO BILL

Anti-Smoking Bill: How Senate saved .6m jobs

By Oseheye Okwuofu

The Senate says it saved over 600,000 jobs through the Anti-Smoking Bill.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Industries, Kamoru Adedibu, spoke at the weekend in Iseyin, in Oyo State.
Adedibu said 600,000 workers would have lost their jobs.
The senator spoke after presenting a tractor to a farmer in the Farmers’ Tractor Scheme of the British American Tobacco Iseyin Agronomy (BATIA).
He said the Senate reduced the tax regime which had scared away investors.
Adedibu said the Senate also reviewed the bail-out for the textile industries from N200 billion to N300 billion.
"Instead of closing down the tobacco companies, we can regulate the consumption of alcohol in the country, because the closure could affect the lives and fortunes of some people’’, he said.
He advised beneficiaries of the tractor scheme to pay on time to allow others benefit.
Adedibu commended BATIA for contributing to the nation’s economic growth.
Earlier, Head of Leaf BATIA, Thomas Omofoye, said the Iseyin Agronomy has support 850 registered tobacco farmers.
He said 12 farmers have benefited since its inception 10 years ago.
"This is in line with our belief that our business partners should have the opportunity to benefit from their relationship with us’’, Omofoye said.

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