FG tasked on adoption of no-smoking programmes

In a bid to reduce the ever increasing number of diseases and deaths caused by smoking, doctors under the auspices of the World Association of Family Doctors(WONCA) have charged the government at all levels to adopt preventive comprehensive health education programmes on smoking cessation and control.

The Africa Regional President, WONCA Dr Sylvester Osinowo gave this charge recently  in Lagos at commemoration of the 2012 WONCA World Family Doctor day with the theme "Healthy Living: The Role of the Family Doctor, Smoking Cessation Among Doctors and in the Community".

Osinowo said that the theme was chosen due to findings that stated that smoking placed the heaviest burden of morbidity and mortality on Nigerians compared to any other risk factor.

He added that the estimated death rate of 4.9m people in 1999 was expected to rise to 10million by 2020, out of which would affect 7 million people in developing countries including Nigeria.

Osinowo, who emphasised that smoking caused coronary heart diseases, cancer and reduction in fertility for women, added that it also posed adverse social, economic and developmental effects on the lives of individuals, their families and the community at large.

"Tobacco consumption causes multiple health risks as cigarette smokers are 2.4 times more likely to develop coronary heart disease than non-smokers. WHO cancer agency also indicates that smoking has been linked to about 90 percent of all lung cancer cases. The economic burden includes direct medical care cost for tobacco-induced illnesses, absence from work, reduction in productivity and death”, he said.

The President, therefore recommended that a preventive comprehensive health education program on smoking cessation and control be adopted by government at all levels.

He also suggested that anti-smoking clinics be established in the PHCs and sickbay of colleges and tertiary institutions to rehabilitate those who were already enmeshed  in the habit.

Osinowo also appealed to family physicians and general medical practitioners disengage themselves from habits such as smoking so as to be good role models for the society to follow.

In his speech, the National President of the Association of General Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria(AGPMPN), Dr Anthony Omolola said that preventive healthcare through annual check up by a doctor was the best healthy living strategy.

Omolola added that eating right, physical fitness, emotional wellness as well as spiritual wellness were smart health choices which should be taken for now and the future.

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Whither Nigeria's Tobacco Control Bill?

The World No Tobacco Day

2012 budget: Jonathan lied, says Senate

The war of words between President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly may be far from over.
 The Senate yesterday said Jonathan lied over the role played by the National Assembly in the 2012 Budget.
On Monday, Jonathan and House of Representatives’ Speaker Aminu Waziri T ambuwal openly disagreed at the Presidential Villa, Abuja over the failure of the President  to assent to Bills passed by the National Assembly.
Jonathan fired back that the lawmakers are overreaching the separation of powers as enshrined in the constitution.
Deputy Senate President yesterday at a Public Hearing on “A Bill to create Erosion control and prevention Commission (Establishment etc) 2012”  described as “distortion of facts” the claim of Jonathan that the National Assembly made inputs into the 2012 Budget that rendered it un-implementable.
 Ekweremadu said the Presidency has no excuse not to fully implement the budget.
He wondered why President Jonathan would accuse the National Assembly of tearing the 2012 budget into piece “when we sent it back substantially the way they brought it to us.”
He said the National Assembly is constitutionally empowered to appropriate for the country.
 He frowned at the refusal of President Jonathan to assent to numerous Bills passed by the National Assembly.
 He said: “Now this reminds me of what the President said during the democracy day symposium.
 “We expressed our displeasure over some of the Bills which we sent to the Presidency for assent since last year that have not received Presidential assent.
 “And in response, the President said that is because we are creating agencies. We will continue to create agencies if it is important because that is why we are here. So we have to do our job. If agencies are to be created, they need to be created. Just to add to that, most of those Bills have nothing to do with agencies.
 “I remember we have the State of the Nation Address Bill, it has nothing to do with agency and it has not been signed.
 “We have the National Health Bill. It has nothing to do with an agency. It has not been signed. We have the Air Force Institute of Technology Bill and Tobacco Bill.
 “A whole number of Bills that would have changed a lot of things for this country have not been signed.
 “So, my advice to the Executive Arm of Government is to dialogue with the legislature in matter like this and find a common ground, instead of shifting blames because the making of laws is dynamic.
 “If institutions are to be created they will definitely be created. Any person who thinks that the creation of institutions should stop is wasting his time. It would not stop because the society itself is dynamic.
 “I also believe that the issue which he also raised regarding the Appropriation Bill was also a distortion of facts.
 “The President said that we tore the Appropriation Bill into pieces which made it impossible for implementation. Certainly that is not so.
 “I am aware that the 2012 Appropriation Bill was returned to the Executive substantially the same way they brought it.
 “So we are challenging them to ensure that that Bill, the 2012 Appropriation Act is fully implemented.
 “We did that, we gave them back the Appropriation Bill the way it came mostly because all the years they have been complaining that they could not implement the budget because of the inputs of the National Assembly.
 “So this year we said we are not making any input; we are going to give you the Bill the way you brought it as a challenge to ensure that it is implemented.
 “So we expect them to implement it 100 per cent because that is their own vision.
 “Of course, he also made reference to a point where they wanted to go to court to challenge the role of the National Assembly in altering Appropriation Bills.
 “Well, that will be a welcome development.
 “So we want to suggest that the Executive should please take that step of going to the Supreme Court or any court they wish to look at the constitutionality of our role in terms of appropriation for this country.
 “We will be happy to see the outcome and of course, we will obey whatever the court says.”


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Tobacco bill, big test of Jonathan’s promise – Oluwafemi

Akinbode Oluwafemi

Akinbode Oluwafemi, Director, Corporate Accountability and Campaigns of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) speaks on the National Tobacco Control Bill that is awaiting presidential assent in this interview with SINA FADARE. Excerpts:

The National Tobacco Control Bill was one of the high profile bills passed by the 6th National Assembly. What is the status of the bill now?

The bill was passed by the National Assembly, inciden-tally on World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) last year. What the people out there may not know is that passing a bill is not the end of legislative process. In fact, it is the beginning of another phase. There are legislative processes that a bill has to go through to prepare it for presidential assent. There is no time limit to the completion of this process, so it really depends on how fast the various arms of the Na-tional Assembly can work together to bring the legislative process to a completion.

But as a civil society organisation that has supported and advocated for this bill from the very beginning, ERA/FoEN has continued to offer support throughout this legis-lative process. We are now at the stage where the bill would be forwarded to the president for his signature in order to become law. This is the most delicate junction where we are afraid that the tobacco industry, having failed so far to stop this bill, may want to exact undue influence to stop it from becoming law.

You spoke about the tobacco industry’s influence over tobacco control processes. How realistic is this espe-cially in Nigeria?

The tobacco industry is known to have one of the biggest lobbying machines in the world and this is possible be-cause they have enormous financial resources with which to pay the best lawyers and lobbyists. In developing countries, the industry capitalises on poverty to bring in the trade of death in the name of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). That was the situation we found ourselves in 2001.

Is there a possibility that the signing of the bill would be tenable?

There are no legal hindrances to the signing of the bill. Let me tell you that the House of Representatives con-curred with the Senate version on the last day of legisla-tive duties in the last Assembly. There is no constitutional time frame for this process to happen. So, there is nothing to fear in this. This bill has followed to the letter, the consti-tutional lay down procedures for the enactment of a law. The only thing remaining now is for President Goodluck Jonathan to sign it and the process will be completed.

What if the President refuses to sign this bill?

No, the President cannot refuse to sign it bill. I remem-ber he said during his swearing-in that he will never let Ni-gerians down. This is a big test of the President’s promise. But he can refuse to sign a bill constitutionally. You know the executive is independent of the legislative process of law enactment and if there is a grey area, he may refuse to sign. But the tobacco bill is a public health bill. It is a bill that the President would sign. It is a bill that fulfils some of the electoral promises of Mr. President himself. Nigeria has an obligation to domesticate the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which in part is what the bill seeks to do. So, in order that we continue to fulfil our international obligations and continue our leadership role in continental and global tobacco control, Nigeria must demonstrate effectiveness and commitment at pushing through a comprehensive tobacco control policy despite the antics of the tobacco industry.

What should be done now to ensure a prompt signing of the bill?

The key is the Minister of Health. He must rise up to the occasion and take leadership of this process because the success or otherwise of public health in Nigeria is his responsibility. The minister is aware of the rising deaths associated with tobacco use; he knows that more young people under his watch are taking to smoking. He knows that while he is the Health Minister, several people are dy-ing daily from preventable tobacco deaths and he knows that the implementation of the tobacco bill will reverse this trend. There is an enormous responsibility on him. He is entrusted with the lives of Nigerians and he is aware of this. We hope and pray he will do needful.

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'Nigeria's tobacco control bill is missing'

One year after the House of Representatives concurred with the National Tobacco Control Bill after it was passed by the Upper House, the bill appears to be missing.

At a Stakeholders' round table on the implementation of the bill organized by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) on Monday, in Lagos, Olorunnimbe Mamora, a former senator who sponsored the bill in 2009, told participants that "no one knows where the bill is now".

"We must track it from the National Assembly, also ask the office of the Attorney-General, and even the presidency," Mr. Mamora, who represented Lagos East constituency in the 6th Assembly, said.

"This is one of the reasons why we continue to hammer on transparency in governance."

"It is not a favour being done to the people. We need to know what is happening because we passed the bill in the National Assembly... It cannot just disappear."

The National Tobacco Control Bill, passed by the Senate on March 15, 2011, and concurred by the Lower House on May 31, 2011 (World No Tobacco Day), requires the assent of the president before it becomes law.

"We are in a funny country," Mr. Mamora continued. 

"There are things I don't understand in this country and this is one of such things. What is happening to that bill? 

"We are not sure whether the bill has been presented to the president or not. It's like the whole thing is shrouded in secrecy and confusion," Mr. Mamora said.

In July, 2009, a public hearing on the bill conducted by the senate attracted more than 40 civil society groups, including groups from the tobacco industry who were against the bill.

"There were seen and unseen forces who did not want the bill to be passed. But unfortunately, the bill has crossed the Red Sea and could not return to Egypt," Mr. Mamora said.

Highlights of the bill includes prohibition of the sale of cigarettes to persons under the age of 18; ban of promotion of tobacco or tobacco products in any form; display of the word 'WARNING' in capital letters on every package containing tobacco product, amongst others.

Akinbode Oluwafemi, the Director of Corporate Accountability and Administration ERA/FoEN, said that the bill is "actually not missing."

"I think for now, even if the president doesn't have the bill, the president can request for the bill and sign it," Mr. Oluwafemi said. 

"We know that there are so many undercurrents that are happening and he [the president] needs to stand firm and resist the tobacco industry," he added. 

Mr. Oluwafemi further stated that the position of the Nigeria Constitution is "very clear on this matter."

"In the event of the president not signing the bill, he should send it back to Parliament with reasons why he's not signing. 

"Now the Parliament has the option of either revising the bill andresending it or they can veto, they can vote again on the bill and the bill becomes law," he said.

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World No Tobacco Day: ERA wants tobacco bill signed

As the World marks the 2012 “World No Tobacco Day” on Thursday, the Environment Rights Action has called on the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, to intervene and ensure the signing of the National Tobacco Control Bill.

Speaking at a stakeholders meeting in Lagos on Monday, the Director, Corporate Accountability and Administration ERA/FOEN, Mr. Akinbode Olufemi, said delay by the president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to give his assent to the bill could lead to an epidemic of tobacco-smoking related diseases.

Also, in his presentation titled, “Promoting Public Health through legislation: Pushing the National Tobacco Control Bill, a former senator, Dr. Olorunnmibe Mamora, who sponsored the bill that was passed by the Senate last year, said the bill which seeks to prevent smoking in public spaces, smoking by minors and under-aged persons and pictorial advertisements of tobacco products, if passed into law, would reduce the incidence of non-communicable diseases in Nigeria.

Mamora urged the President and the minister to investigate the present status of the bill as it was their responsibility to protect Nigerians.

” Government has a duty to protect the welfare and the health of the people. It is a public health bill that would reduce diseases from tobacco smoking which has attained the status of a weapon of mass destruction.

” We should know where the bill is by now as it has been passed by both the Senate and the National Assembly. It is our right not a privilege to know whether the President has received it or not. Nigeria signed a global health treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, in 2004 and it must domesticate it. There must be transparency in issues of governance,” he stated.

Also, the Executive Director, ERA/FOEN, Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, called on the minister to save the bill from the delay antics and lobbying of players in the tobacco industry.

Bassey said, “After the overwhelming support the bill received in the Senate and the House of Representatives, it is sad that till date, it has not been signed by the President. The intervention of the Health Minister is a singular action that generations of Nigerians will not forget. Giving Nigerians this gift as we mark the 2012 World No Tobacco Day will be remarkable.”

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