Ban of cigarette in Abuja: FCTA’s clarion call to the media

NIGERIAN COMPASS

“Who is the next journalist we are going to lose to smokingrelated disease?” We lost Steve Kadiri, we lost Yinka Craig, and we lost Kubanji Momoh. Why is it that NUJ secretariats across the country are like smoking dens unlike the secretariats of other professional bodies? said Akinbode Oluwafemi, a former journalist with the Guardian Newspaper, and an activist against cigarette smoking in the countr .
Oluwafemi equally expressed worry that despite their exposure and knowledge, the late journalists, Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti, as well as the late songstress, Tina Onwudiwe who were chain smokers during their life time shared the same fate as they all died of tobacco related diseases.

According to him, Tina Onwudiwe who reportedly died of cancer started smoking cigarette at the age of 16.

The Programme Manager for Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria, who was in Abuja for a one day workshop on ‘Tobacco and the Media’ queried journalists on how long they would remain silent while tobacco smoking continues to take away some of the nation’s valuable ones. The workshop which was aimed at getting the mass media on the driver’s seat of the campaign against smoking of cigarette in public places in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, was designed to continue the enforcement of the ban of cigarette smoking in public places in Abuja introduced in 2008 by the then FCT Minister, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar.

More than any of his predecessors, former FCT Minister, Dr. Moddibo , has etched his name in the book of history as the first minister to ban smoking of cigarette in public places in Abuja. It was in view of this feat that he was given an award by the World Health Organisation (WHO) even after the expiration of his tenure.

In the same vein, Modibbo, also won accolades from those who have been kicking against the sales and consumption of tobacco products in the country.

Modibbo indeed invoked the provision of Tobacco Control Act of 1990 on August 31, 2008 to make public smoking of cigarette within the FCT a criminal act, no matter how highly placed a person might be. Ever since, there have been repeated calls from anti-smoking groups to have smoking of cigarette banned in all the 39 states of the federation.

Most of the calls against tobacco smoking in the country also include heavy taxation of the product to discourage consumers as cigarette according to anti-smoking activists and health practitioners, remains a product in which consumers do not derive any benefit.

To ensure that tobacco and cigarette are totally eliminated from the country, most of the agitators have also been looking forward to how the tobacco companies in the country would eventually be flushed out.However, in all their campaigns against smoking of cigarette, a missing link has been identified which is said to be a key factor in ensuring that all efforts at shutting down tobacco factories in the country become successful. Still perturbed by the tobacco situation in the country especially among men of the pen pushing profession, who according to him have huge capacity for creating mass awareness on any issue, Oluwafemi asked: “ Is a writer that guy with a cigarette in one hand and writing with the other hand”?

The media, he explained, are trusted by the public and policy makers as they (media) connect the political agenda with policy agenda. He noted that Nigerian media has an history of advocacy journalism and should not fail in this regard to make the public see the evil in the production and consumption of cigarette.

He revealed that contrary to belief in some parts of the country, especially in Oke Ogun area of Oyo State where the British America Tobacco Company (BAT) has tobacco plantations, a recent report by the UN and the World Bank has indicated that tobacco business or cultivation is not a sustainable business anywhere across the world.

It is against this realisation that he said that both the UN and the World Bank have stopped sponsoring investment in tobacco related production or business.

But what is role for the media in the campaign? The anti-tobacco smoking exponent noted that though the failure of the federal government to impose heavy tax on the products has continued to encourage more patronage from the public, the mass media is feared greatly by the tobacco industry.

“The media is the only medium through which tobacco advocates can communicate with both members of the public and policy makers at the same time,” he said, adding “the use of mass media for effective tobacco control gained momentum in the 1990s in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.”

Again, he stressed that mass media campaigns are an effective tobacco control strategy as they increase knowledge of the health risks of tobacco use, encourage quitting and motivate change in both smokers and non-smokers.

The former journalist, convinced that media can help win the war against cigarette in the country, advocated that media houses should create one ‘tobacco journalist’ per media house. This, he explained could be done when such journalists capacity is boosted to report tobacco issues.

Although he argued that tobacco to some journalists is not as attractive as other issues such as AIDS, malaria, poverty, corruption and bad governance, Oluwafemi opined that media can be used to advocate tighter tobacco control laws and implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which Nigeria is a signatory.

Why the war against tobacco smoking? The anti-smoking activist explained that the adult smoking rate in Nigeria is put at 17 per cent which translate to mean that there are over 13 million active smokers in the country.

“Since half of smokers die of tobacco related diseases, it also goes to show that over 6.5 million Nigerians are on death row due to tobacco addiction. Tobacco kills, it kills over 5 million people every year,” he said.

He added: “Tobacco is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, a major risk factor for cancers as well as a major risk factor for about 44 different kinds of diseases. There are over 4000 carcinogens in tobacco smoke.”

While corroborating this, the FCT administration Secretary for Social Development Secretariat, Barrister Habiba Sani Kalgo, said the media has a great role to play in the process of sensitising the public and should not be left out in the chain of reaction if all the efforts at making members of the public appreciating the ‘stop smoking in public places campaign’ must be successful.

Barrister Kalgo who spoke at the workshop organised by her secretariat in partnership with the Nigeria Tobacco Situation Analysis (NTSA) for FCT Press Corps stressed that the job of sensitising the public on the hazard of smoking cigarette would be made easier with mass media incorporated into the FCTA’s campaign against the habit.

“The workshop we are having today with the media is in recognition of your importance in the success of the campaign. Indeed, the power of the media in effective communication cannot be over-emphasised. We have brought our friends from the Nigeria Tobacco Situation Analysis (NTSA) to properly educate us on this very significant health issue.”

Currying the support of the mass media in the FCT administration’s war against smoking of cigarette in public places in Abuja, the Social Development Secretary said: “Our beautiful city of Abuja as you know has put its name in history books as one of the few cities in the world to have officially banned smoking in public places. We therefore urge you to join the FCT administration in our noble course of promoting healthy living and public health safety of Abuja residents.”

At the end of the workshop in which journalists from media houses like the Nigerian Compass, the Nation, Leadership, Vanguard, NTA, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Hot FM, Rhythm FM, Daily Trust, People’s Daily, AIT, ITV, DBN, The Champion among others, were present, there was an atmosphere of conviction among journalists that the war is worth fighting as at least tobacco smoking has claimed some of their loved ones. Hence, they cannot wait to see another one stolen away by a preventable habit.

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WHO On Passive Smoking

EDITORIAL

The warning by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that passive smoking constitutes a global threat, is revealing and must be checked.
The UN agency had in its second major report on the "tobacco epidemic" released last week, said second-hand or passive smoking killed nearly 600,000 people each year. WHO, which also warned that tobacco is still the leading preventable cause of death, killing five million people every year, said more and more people were likely to suffer from the harmful effects of passive smoking.
According to the agency, only 5 per cent of people in the world are protected from second-hand smoke in public areas. Insisting that unless more stringent measures were taken to minimize smoking's impact, WHO said that of the world's 100 most populous cities, just over a fifth, or 22 are smoke free.
Last year, WHO unveiled six strategies that countries could implement to protect their people from the harm of cigarettes. These include smoking bans, higher tobacco taxes and bans on tobacco advertising. The 2005 WHO Framework on Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) made it clear that banning of smoking in public places is essential to not only protect nonsmokers, but to make it easier for those who want to quit to stay smoke-free.
WHO, which lamented that just a mere 17 nations had passed comprehensive smoke- free laws, raised the alarm that the annual death toll from tobacco related diseases could rise to eight million by 2030.
It is sad that despite the well documented effects of smoking on humans, countries have more or less, continued to pay lip-service to fighting what from all indications, constitutes one of the major health challenges of the 21st century. No less a body than the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said that 200,000 workers die every year due to exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke at work. WHO estimates that around 700 million children, or almost half of the world's children, breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke which is generally carcigenous.
Given the insalubrious effects of tobacco smoking, governments the world over must rise to the challenge of not only protecting passive smokers, but ensuring that smokers alike are regularly reminded of the risks they face. There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke. Action is, therefore, needed by governments to protect their people from the dangers posed by this type of smoking.
Besides, the fact that more than 94 per cent of people remain unprotected by smoke-free laws three years after international tobacco control measures introduced the requirement, shows that much work needs to be done. Governments must implement the 2005 WHO Framework which 170 nations have signed. As it is said, passive smoking kills people and being passive about it will also kill.
For Nigeria, which is a signatory to the WHO FCTC, the challenge posed by passive smoking is by no means less daunting. Although there are no available data on passive smoking, a report by an Expert Committee on Non-communicable diseases in 1988 certified that 4.5 million Nigerians were smokers. The committee set up by the federal health authorities, also said Nigerians smoked close to seven million sticks of cigarettes daily, which according to then Health Minister, Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, added up to 49 million sticks a week, or 196 million sticks a month.
It is pertinent to add that it was during Olikoye's tenure as Health Minister under the Ibrahim Babangida regime, that a law against smoking in public places was enacted. Unfortunately, the law all but exists in name as a report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) had it that over 60 per cent of Nigerian undergraduates smoked. Given the very lax nature of the law on smoking and the general lack of awareness about passive smoking in the country and its consequences, it is not unlikely that the general population are at risk.
While it must be stated that Nigerians are also exposed to other equally deleterious forms of fumes such as acid rain and fumes from automobiles, no effort should be spared to save lives that are exposed to this danger. Indeed, every single life is important and as much as possible, life should be safeguarded.
There is no gainsaying that smoking places a huge burden on health care provisions all around the world. Governments should, therefore, embark on aggressive public enlightenment campaigns to sensitise Nigerians on the effects of passive smoking, and indeed, smoking in general. No effort should be spared to ensure that Nigerians stay healthy.

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