Pass tobacco control bill

I write to call on the Senate Committee on Health led by Senator Iyabo Obasanjo -Bello and the leadership of the National Assembly to move immediately to pass the National Tobacco Control Bill 2009, sponsored by Senator Olorunnibe Mamoora. The bill, which enjoyed the support of many senators is yet to be returned to the Senate Plenary after a public hearing was conducted in July 2009.
It is a fact that there are dangers associated with smoking. The World Health organisation estimated that 5.4 million people die every year due to a tobacco related diseases. The majority of these deaths occurred in developing countries. Tobacco is the only consumer product that is guaranteed to kill half of its consumers if used according to manufacturers‘ intention. It contains more than 4,000 dangerous chemicals harmful to the body.
It is also a fact that stringent measures aimed at reducing smoking in Europe and America have driven the tobacco industry to developing countries like Nigeria.
Recent surveys suggested that more young people are becoming smokers every- day, while a survey conducted in Lagos hospitals reveals that two persons die each day from a tobacco related disease. Governments all over the world are putting measures in place to combat the epidemic through enactment of bills like the one Mamoora has proposed.
It will be to the credit of this National Assembly to expedite action on the bill and pass it before the expiration of this democratic dispensation. Nigeria played a major part in shaping global health policies especially in tobacco control. The world is watching and waiting. The National Assembly cannot afford to fail Nigerians.

Seun Akioye
1, Balogun Street, Off Awolowo Way, Ikeja, Lagos.

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Brand challenges: Tobacco firm under fire

ERA praises Australia for banning cigarettes in glamorizing packs

ERA: Press Release, May 2, 2010

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has hailed the Australian government for promulgating a law which prohibits all forms of promotional texts and pictures glamorizing smoking on cigarette packs saying the move will discourage potential new smokers and is worth emulating by the Nigerian government.

The Australian government last week announced that by July 2012, all cigarettes sold in that country will have to be in plain packaging – meaning no tobacco industry logos, no brand imagery, no colours, and no promotional text other than brand and product names in a standard colour, position, font style and size.

Article 11 of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) requires each Party to the protocol to adopt and implement, within a period of three years after entry into force of the FCTC for that Party, effective measures to ensure that tobacco product packaging and labelling carry large, rotating health warnings and do not promote tobacco products by false, misleading or deceptive means.

It also requires that tobacco product packaging and labelling contain information on relevant constituents and emissions of tobacco products as defined by national authorities.

In a statement issued in Lagos, ERA/FoEN Programme Manager, Akinbode Oluwafemi said, "The Australian government’s move complements global efforts to curb the gale of deaths spurred by the deceptive promotional packs of the tobacco industry. It is highly commendable and timely in nipping the renewed efforts to woo underage persons into smoking through beautiful packs, colours and logos."

Akinbode explained that " The move by the Australian government is a step further in implementing Article 11 which ensure that all packets of tobacco products, and any packaging and labelling used in retail sale of tobacco products, carry rotated series of health warnings which must describe the harmful effects of tobacco use, and other appropriate messages that should cover at least 50 percent on average of the principal display areas"

"This enviable move by the Australian government should ginger our lawmakers to expedite action on the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) currently stagnating in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly. It is ironic that Nigeria which signed the FCTC in 2004 and ratified in 2005 is still lagging behind and prevaricating on domesticating the FCTC in form of state and national laws," Akinbode noted.

The National Tobacco Control Bill was sponsored by Deputy Minority Leader Senator Olorunnibe Mamoora and scaled the second reading in February 2009.

A public hearing on the bill was also held on July 20 and 21 last year by the Senate Committee on Health, Chaired by Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello.

The committee is expected to send the reports of the public hearing to the Senate plenary after which a vote will be taken on the bill. Senate President, David Mark had also hinted that the Senate will vote individually as against the usual practice of a voice vote.

Tobacco bill not dead, ERA replies Adedibu

IMAOBONG UDOH

THE Environmental Right Action (ERA) has faulted a statement credited to Senator Kamarudeen Adedibu that the National Tobacco Bill is dead.
The ERA Programme Manager, Mr Akinbode Oluwafemi, said at a press briefing in Lagos that bill which had passed the public hearing was not dead.
He said: “The tobacco bill is to regulate the manufacture, distribution, sponsorship and marketing of tobacco products in Nigeria. The bill scaled through the second reading in the Senate in February 2009 and at that reading, all the senators present spoke at the plenary expressed strong support for the bill.
“Senator David Mark, while referring the bill to the Committee on Health, enjoined the members to expedite action because of the intense lobbying of the tobacco industry which will seek to derail the enactment of laws that protect lives of Nigerians and also curtail criminal activities.”
Oluwafemi said over 40 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) presented memoranda supporting the bill and asking for its special passage. Besides, there were words of commendations and support for the bill from five international NGOs - Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK), Framework convention Alliance (FCA), Corporate Accountability International (CAI), African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA), and the Africa Tobacco Regional Initiative (ATCRI).
The ERA programme manager said: “Senator Mark, while speaking at the public hearing made some profound statements which underscore the importance of the bill 'We stand between health and economy that is the truth of the matter. People who are against it are simply worried about the impact on the health of Nigerians and people who for it are saying well, the nation stands to benefit from it. But the simple question is, when do we begin to worry about the economy? Is it when we are dead or when we are alive?'
“Mark added that the Senate will not employ the usual method of voice voting but that individuals will vote their support for or against the bill when it comes back to plenary. The bill has not return to the Senate plenary, so how then did the bill die?
“Let me state again that the bill is not about personal gains or recognition for anybody. The bill seeks to domesticate the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which is a World Health Organisation (WHO) initiative to combat the global practice of the tobacco industry. Nigeria has signed and ratified that treaty and we owe it as an obligation under international protocol to fully domesticate the provisions of the treaty. It is about the health of our people as reconsigned by all leading health institutions.”

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ERA/FoEN Calls For Adedibu’s Recall

By Valentine Amanze

Senator Kamarudeen Adedibu, who represents Oyo South Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, may have stepped on the tail of a tiger, as Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has called for his resignation as a senator follwing his statement supporting cigarette smoking at Iseyin, Oyo State.
Programme Manager, ERA/FoEN, Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, who spoke in Lagos, alleged that Adedibu made misleading statements on the National Tobacco Control Bill (NTCB) being sponsored by Senator Olurunnibe Mamoora and which is currently before the Senate Committee on Health.
He alleged that Adedibu made insinuations that the bill, which had passed the public hearing stage was dead, as it would cause Nigeria over 600,000 jobs tied with tobacco industry.
Akinbode however said the bill was not dead and it would not cause serious job loss, stressing that tobacco industry employs less than 1,000 Nigerians. His words: “Contrary to the lies and deception of the statement credited to the senator, the National Tobacco Control Bill is not dead. The bill scaled through the second reading in the Senate in February 2009 and at that reading all the senators present and who spoke at the plenary expressed strong support for the bill.
“Indeed, the Senate President, David Mark, while referring the bill to the Committee on Health, enjoined the members to expedite action on it because of the intense lobbying power of the tobacco industry, which would seek to derail the enactment of laws that would protect the lives of Nigerians and also curtail the industry’s criminal activities.”
The ERA/FoEN chief, while calling for the recall of the lawmaker, said he (Adedibu) lied against Nigerians and his constituency by failing in his mandate to protect the health of those who voted him into power.
According to him, “By failing to abide by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under Chapter 11, the Fundamental Objectives and Derivative Principles of State Policy to protect all vulnerable groups (children and women) from the effects of second hand smoking and industry manipulations, the society and the environment, also by failing to abide by the African Chapter on Human and People’s Right, which provides a healthy environment and state of well being for all people, ERA/FoEN hereby call on Adedibu to resign his position as the senator representing Oyo South Constituency.”

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ERA tackles lawmaker over tobacco bill

By Gbenga Adeniji

A non-governmental organisation, Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth, has described as misleading a comment credited to Senator Kamarudeen Adedibu that the passage of the National Tobacco Control bill would jeopardise over 600,000 jobs attached to the tobacco industry.
Reacting in a statement issued by its Media officer, Mr. Seun Akioye, the group’s Programme Manager, Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, said the senator had by the comment aligned himself with the tobacco industry, to the detriment of public health.
According to the statement, “He said the bill, if passed, would result in the loss of about 600,000 jobs. This suggestion is as laughable as it is ridiculous. For the records, let me state that nowhere is the tobacco industry employing people near the figure being branded by the senator.
“On its website and at the public hearing, the British American Tobacco Nigeria has acknowledged that it employs less than 1000 people in direct employment; and indirectly, including the kiosk operators, PR agents, distributors, youth organisers, youth marketers etc about 3,000 people. Where did the senator get his figures from?”
He further stated that Adedibu, representing Oyo South, also claimed that the bill was dead, stressing that the declaration was untrue for the proposed piece of legislation had passed second reading.
He said, ‘‘Contrary to the statements credited to the senator, the National Tobacco Control bill is not dead. The bill scaled through second reading in the Senate in February 2009; and at that reading, all the senators who spoke expressed strong support for the bill.”

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Tobacco Remains Harmful to People's Helath