Youth Cautioned On Tobacco Addiction

-Zacheaus Somorin

Youths around the country have been warned to desist from smoking as the world marks the International Week of Resistance. At a press briefing held in Lagos, the Director, Cooperate Accountability Campaign and Administration, Environmental Rights Action (ERA), Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, stated that this year's event is aimed building momentum in the run-up to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) meetings in Uruguay in November.

The meetings are planned for a unified, international action to prevent the tobacco industry from derailing the FCTC's lifesaving measures.
He stated that "FCTC entered into force in 2005 and has since been ratified by more than 170 countries, representing close to 90 per cent of the world's population" saying that the "treaty aims to reverse an epidemic that today claims the life of one in 10 adults".
He explained further that "the single greatest obstacle to the treaty's success is tobacco industries' interference in public health policy - a practice that Article 5.3 of the treaty effectively forbids".

"Smoking especially among youths in Nigeria over the last few years has continued to rise. A survey conducted in 2001 shows that 9.1 per cent of Nigerian youths smoke cigarette. The figure by another survey conducted in 2008 has jumped to between 17 per cent and 27 per cent.Akinbode stated that the report on Global Tobacco Treaty Action Guide is intended to keep governments alert and make them anticipate and thwart attempts by the vested commercial interests of the tobacco industry to undermine the implementation of tobacco control policies. He said further that the report reinforces the need for governments to insulate their public health policies from interference by tobacco companies.
"In fact, a recent survey in four local governments of Adamawa state put smoking rate among the youth at 33.9 per cent. While smoking rate has been on the increase the Senate has been foot-dragging in passing the National Tobacco Control Bill," he posited, calling on the National Assembly to pass the National Tobacco Control Bill.

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ERA seeks passage of tobacco bill

-BY MICHAEL ORIE

THE Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) yesterday called on the National Assembly to pass into law the National Tobacco Control Bill, saying its delay has further promoted the activity of tobacco industries in the country.
    The call was made in the wake of the 10th International Week of the Resistance Against Tobacco Transnational, to expose the ever-evolving tactics of the tobacco industry to undermine public health through its lethal products.
   According to the Director, Accountability Campaigns and Administration, Environmental Rights Action, Oluwafemi Akinbode, the bill had been foot-dragging for the past two years without a particular reason for the delay.
  “We have an increase worries on why the bill has not been passed, as there is a clear indication the delay might have a political undertone,” he said.
   The one-week event that started yesterday is aimed at building momentum in the run-up to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) meetings in Uruguay in November this year for a unified international action to prevent the tobacco industry from derailing the FCTC’s life-saving measures.
    Akinbode, to prove the menace the delay has caused, said “in solidarity with our allies and NGOs across the globe taking part in several actions to expose some of the tobacco industry tactics to undermine the FCTC, ERA/FoEN has released a report from tobacco industry watchdog  – Corporate Accountability International – documenting persistent and ongoing efforts to obstruct the FCTC on the African continent and around the world. The report points to tobacco industry interference as the single greatest obstacle to the treaty realising its full potential.”
   He added that the report is intended to keep governments alert and make them anticipate and thwart attempts by the vested commercial interests of the tobacco industry to undermine the implementation of tobacco control policies.
   According to Akinbode,  Nigeria which is among the first few countries that signed the FCTC in 2004 and ratified it in 2005 is still foot-dragging in totally domesticating the treaty through the National Tobacco Control Bill which was hailed by local and international groups at the public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Health in July 2009 as a step to curbing “the gale of deaths which tobacco has wrought on this nation.”
“British America Tobacco (BAT) which controls over 80 per cent of the Nigerian cigarette market has continued to undermine the treaty by deliberate misinformation and illicit actions targeted at the youth.  For instance, in the last two months the company has held several secret smoking parties targeted at new smokers. Two of such parties were held in Ajegunle and Victoria Island, both in Lagos, and the company has announced plans to seize the opportunity of the upcoming yuletide to organise more.” 
   According to ERA, on June 15 this year the company had announced a position for Regulatory Affairs and External Communications Executive Staff to be based in Lagos. The job announcement which described a potential candidate as one who can “establish BAT as a trusted partner of regulators and a leading authority on tobacco control issues across Nigeria,” was said to have outlined that the company was looking for someone “to provide advocacy that ensure(s) that engagement is relevant to tobacco control thinking, both current and future in order to maximise transaction with stakeholders and demonstrate deep knowledge of tobacco control in the real world.”

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