Environmental activists task Jonathan, legislators on tobacco bill

THERE are fears that the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) passed by the sixth session of the National Assembly (NA) about six months ago might have been swept under the carpet and might never by assented into law by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Environmental activists in the country expressed this fear, alleging breach of constitutional duty, which mandates that a bill passed by the two houses of NA be sent to the President, who should “within 30 days thereof signify that he assents or that he withholds assent (with reasons)” to the bill that is presented.

The activists under the aegis of Environmental Rights Actions/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) said that nothing was yet to be communicated by the Presidency to the parliament on the NTCB, like several other bills passed at the twilight of the last assembly.

They therefore task the President to “work with the N/A to complete the process of the signing of the bill. Sign the bill immediately it is forwarded to his desk for signing and set in motion the structure and machineries to ensure the effective implementation of the bill all over Nigeria.”

Director of Corporate Accountability and Administration, ERA/FoEN, Akinbode Oluwafemi also called on the N/A; Special Adviser on N/A to the President, Senator Joy Emordi and every other official of the N/A to expedite the process of the bill and forward it to the President.

Oluwafemi said that Nigeria has till date failed to set a leadership role for the rest of Africa by taking preventive measures on the tobacco epidemic, safe environment through comprehensive tobacco control legislation.

The tobacco control bill seeks to regulate the manufacturing, sales and marketing of tobacco products in the country. The bill has measures that will tackle youth smoking, prohibition of the sale of cigarettes to persons under the age of 18 among other provisions.

Oluwafemi added: “Our nation is at that crossroad where we have to make a decision whether to complete the processes for the enactment of laws that would protect the present and the future generations from harms caused by multinational whose sole motive is profit and death through the use of tobacco.”

Programme Officer, ERA, Seun Akioye added that the consequence of inaction is already with Nigeria, as the country already adds to World Health Organisation’s (WHO) 5.8 million estimate of people that die each year due to a tobacco related disease.

“According to figures from a 2006 survey conducted in 11 hospitals in Lagos, two persons die each day from a tobacco-related disease.

Our government can however step up this challenge and enact a law that will protect the young, the poor and those who have been deceived into tobacco addiction by the tobacco multinationals glamorous tobacco advertising. This bill is for today, tomorrow and the future. This bill is for our children and us, “ he said,

 

 

 

By Wole Oyebade via  GUARDIAN

Raise cigarette tax now and save our future

By Akinshola Owoeye

Health practitioners and tobacco control experts have proposed to the federal government that taxes on cigarettes should be increased to discourage more smokers. The increment from a cigarette tax is twofold: raising state revenue and achieving public health policy goals such as discouraging the use of tobacco.
It is a known fact that smoking kills. Currently, it kills over 5.4 million people annually.
More than 70 per cent of these deaths occur in developing countries.
Hundreds of victims, including celebrities, youths, and the old have died of tobacco related diseases. A random survey in eleven government owned hospitals in Lagos State in 2006 threw up a shocking statistics: two people die each day from a tobacco related disease. That was four years ago. Today the number will be higher and it will assume an alarming and frightening rate if we consider the impact on the entire country.
In fact, in developed countries, cigarette companies are levied with high taxes that serve as source of revenue for their governments as a way of discouraging smoking.
Their governments collect the tax to support its operations and to influence the macroeconomic performance of the economy. In the state of New York alone, increases in tobacco taxes raise about one billion dollars as revenue every year. Just last month, the state was considering raising tobacco taxes yet again because the rate of youth smoking had gone down drastically.
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which came into force in 2005 and which has been signed and ratified by over 168 countries including Nigeria, has taxation as one of its elements. The signatories recognise that price and tax measures are effective and important means of reducing tobacco consumption in various segments of the population, particularly among the youth. The FCTC maintains that if this is achieved, it could prevent about five million deaths in a year.
In this context, I will define tax as an involuntary fee - or, more precisely, “unrequited payment” - paid by individuals or businesses to a government (central or local). Taxes on tobacco products can be regarded as sales taxes. They are generally held to discourage retail sales, since poor people spend a higher proportion of their incomes on commodities like food, cigarettes and so on.
The reason for increasing tobacco tax is not new. According to Adam Smith, in the Wealth of Nations, (1776) “sugar, rum, and tobacco are commodities which are nowhere necessaries of life, which are become objects of almost universal consumption, and which are therefore extremely proper subjects of taxation.” It has been proved beyond doubt that when the price of cigarettes goes up, the use of cigarettes comes down.
According to a Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) report, youth smoking rates rose badly between 2001 and 2008 because young people could afford to buy a pack of cigarettes or the individual stick. The cost of a pack in Nigeria ranges between N120 and N180, while the same pack goes for $6 in Maine, USA, and in the United Kingdom costs seven pounds.
In Maine the price increase in 2009 went from $1.34 to $6. This has not only discouraged smoking but it has lowered the rate in the region.
Keeping prices high is an important way for governments to show they have the interest of the people at heart, because poor smokers tend to spend a higher proportion of their income on tobacco and this has compounded their health challenges.
Here in Nigeria the price of a pack of cigarettes should be increased to a minimum of N1500 and sale of single sticks should be discouraged for the same reasons. This is a matter of health, not just a tax policy. When the price is increased more people are likely to quit or to reduce consumption, which will improve health and release income for other uses. The health of the people should override every other interest, including the economy, because it is when we are alive that we can talk about economy.
Senate President, David Mark said during a public hearing on the National Tobacco Bill 2009 organised by Committee on Health: “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?”
The statement is clear enough. We should not allow the baseless arguments of tobacco companies to deceive us. Nigerians are dying daily due to tobacco addiction while tobacco manufacturers smile all the way to the bank. The tobacco tax must be increased to save lives!

Akinshola Owoeye is Project Officer, Nigeria Tabacco Control Alliance



SOURCE

Nigeria: Fast Track the Tobacco Control Bill

DailyTrust: Editorial

Abuja — The Senate's decision to commence public hearing last week on the Nigeria National Tobacco Control (NNTC ) bill, which is aimed at domesticating the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control ( FCTC ) has once again brought to the fore the debate on the societal cost of tobacco production and consumption in Nigeria. Nigeria ratified the FCTC treaty in 2005, but little is being done to regulate tobacco production and consumption in the country.
Sponsored by Senator Olorunnibe Mamora ( AC, Lagos ), the proposed law which is an upgrade of the existing, but defective Tobacco Control Act of 1990 seeks to control the production, sale and use of tobacco products in the country. The bill would also, among other provisions, seeks to regulate the involvement of tobacco companies in corporate social responsibility ( CSR ), a tool many tobacco firms use as part of the arguments to justify their presence in any community. More interesting is the provision which requires tobacco firms to go beyond the written warnings on cigarette packs, to using picture of people harmed by smoking, and this will occupy at least one- third of the pack to warn consumers. Similarly, if the bill is passed, it will be against the law to sell tobacco products within one kilometre of churches, mosques, schools and hospitals.
Indeed, over the years, attempt by pressure groups to convince governments at all levels to take stringent measures against tobacco production and its consumption fell on deaf ears following spirited fight from tobacco firms and other pro-tobacco lobbyists who argued that such actions would lead to the loss of 500,000 jobs across the country. But as the Senate president, David Mark pointed out at the public hearing, "Although the tobacco industry is economically significant, it is only the living that can enjoy the wealth". It is against this background that we support the proposed bill, more so that it is coming at a time when some state governments have taken the initiative to institute legal actions against tobacco companies whose products are alleged to be causing the deaths of many Nigerians and of luring youths into smoking in order to enhance profits margin. Already, the Federal Government and some states like Oyo, Kano, Osun and Gombe are pursuing anti-tobacco cases both at the state and national assemblies.
Though the nation presently lacks a comprehensive data on the deaths caused by tobacco-related illnesses, a research recently conducted by a non-governmental organisation, the Coalition Against Tobacco (CAT) indicated that 280,000 Nigerians died annually as a result of tobacco-induced sicknesses, warning that the number may double in the near future if not checked. Also, in 2006, a research carried out in Lagos revealed that at least two people die daily from tobacco-related diseases; translating to 60 persons losing their lives monthly. These figures exclude passive smokers (who inhale the smoke of others and end up having heart disease, lung cancer and a host of other illnesses).
It is important to note that tobacco smoking and the industry itself is in retreat in developed economies. In fact, in the last two decades, tobacco firms began to relocate their operations to Africa and other under-developed nations due to the stringent regulations introduced in Europe and North America. This is aimed at curtailing the rise in tobacco- induced illnesses, resulting in a number of deaths, especially among youths who constitutes the productive base of any nation. We therefore need to borrow a leaf from the west and regulate the infiltration of tobacco firms into the country under the guise of industrialisation. Though we know it would be a tough decision for the Senators to choose between the economy and the health implication of tobacco, there is need however for the lawmakers to demonstrate courage and show commitment in this direction.
As the nation awaits the passage of the bill, government at all levels must also intensify public enlightenment campaigns on the health implication of tobacco consumption. We also expect the health ministry to carry out a comprehensive research and analysis on the impact of cigarette smoking in order to produce a data that would serve as a reference point in the future when the need arise. This is imperative because it would be foolhardy for the country to always rely on data produced by foreign organisations for our national development.

SOURCE

ERA HAILS US TOBACCO BILL, URGES SENATE TO FOLLOW SUIT

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has praised the United States government for passing a new tobacco control bill into law as it called on the National Assembly to expedite action on the National Tobacco Control Bill 2009, currently before the Senate Committee on Health .

President Barrack Obama has signed into law the new bill which empowers the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to exercise a large degree or regulation and control over manufacture, processing and sale of tobacco products in the US. The law empowers the FDA to limit nicotine levels, limit the use of flavours, restrict advertising in publications targeting young people, and banning outdoor tobacco advertising within 300metres radius of schools, among others.

It also requires tobacco companies to get FDA approval for new products and banned terms such as "light" or "mild" in tobacco packaging which imply a smaller risk to health, and introduce graphic new health warnings of packets.

ERA/FoEN, in a press statement in Lagos, said that with the Nigerian government no longer have any excuse not to immediately begin the implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which it ratified in October 2005.

Programme Manager, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said the National Assembly should take a cue from last week’s signing into law of a major tobacco bill by President Barrack Obama and expedite works on the national Tobacco Control Bill and the lives of millions of Nigerians especially young children.

Oluwafemi said: “ It has become imperative for Nigeria to follow the good example of progressive countries all over the world as just demonstrated by United States President Barrack Obama in passing a strong tobacco control law that would protect Nigerians both smoker and non smokers alike.

“Governments across the world are taking effective measures to protect the health of citizens from corporations reckless desire for profits. Nigeria must act now,” he added.

The Nigeria Tobacco Control Bill sponsored by Senator Olorunnibe Mammora has passed the second reading in the senate. While referring the bill to the Senate committee on Health, Senate President, David Mark had admonished members to resist lobbying from tobacco industry. He said the Senate owe it a duty to the public health of Nigerians to pass the bill in two weeks .The bill when passed will help save lives of millions of Nigerians who may die from a tobacco related disease.

The bill seeks to ban tobacco advertising, selling cigarettes in single sticks, selling cigarettes within 1,000 meters radius of any school or playground, prohibition of smoking in public places and graphic warnings on cigarettes packs among others.