Reps pass National Tobacco Control Bill

•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."

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Tobacco control bill will safeguard health-C’ttee

BY NASIR IMAM


The new anti-tobacco bill, presently before the National Assembly, is meant to safeguard the health of Nigerians, the FCT Committee on the Ban on Smoking in Public Places has said.

FCT Secretary, Social Development Secretariat, Barrister Habiba Sani Kalgo, who stated this yesterday when she led a delegation on a courtesy call to the Media Trust office, said people should stay away from smoking in order to imbibe a healthy living.

Represented by the Director, Gender Development in the Secretariat, Mrs. Hannatu D. Atar, the Secretary advised youths and adults alike on the dangers of smoking, which, according to her, leads to diseases such as cancer, tuberculosis and heart attack.

Mrs. Atar said membership of the committee cuts across agencies, departments and secretariats in the FCT Administration, called on media houses to partner with the committee in educating and enlightening our youths on the danger of the use of tobacco.

Another member of the committee, who is also the Asst. Director, Tourism, Mr. Samuel Tunde Bello, said the Tobacco Act of 1990 is being used by the committee to enforce the ban in public places such as offices, cinema, public buses, hospitals, schools, etc.

Mr. Olawale Makanjuola, of the Nigeria Tobacco Situation Analysis, at the occasion, said after the public hearing at the National Assembly in July last year, the Health Committee in the House of Representatives is doing a review of the new Anti-Tobacco bill and will soon provide recommendations.

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