•Environmentalists urge Jonathan to assent bill
The House of Representatives yesterday gave concurrent passage to the National Tobacco Control Bill.
The passage, which coincided with the World No Tobacco Day, was a wholesale adoption of the bill as passed by the Senate on March 15.
The bill sponsored by Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora is a domestication of the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) ratified by the country.
When signed into law, it bans illicit trade in tobacco products; sales to and by minors; and support for economically viable alternative activities.
It also offers protection of public health policies from the vested interests of the tobacco industry; protection of the environment; national coordinating mechanism; international cooperation, reporting and exchange of information and institutional arrangements.
In a statement the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) commended the concurrent passage of the bill, describing it as a milestone in the history of public health in Nigeria.
ERA/FoEN Director of Corporate Accountability & Administration, Akinbode Oluwafemi urged President Goodluck Jonathan to sign the bill into law.
He said: " This House of Representatives will be remembered for taking a bold step that will safeguard the health of Nigerians today and in the future."
