Court Dismisses Application of Tobacco Firms

Justice Wada Abubakar Omar of a Kano State High Court has dismissed the application of three tobacco companies challenging, among other issues, the jurisdiction of the court to entertain a suit filed against them by the Attorney-General of the state.
The International Tobacco Limited; British American Tobacco Plc and British American Tobacco Investment Limited refered to as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants respectively had, in separate notices of preliminary objections challenged the jurisdiction of the court and prayed for an order setting aside the writ of summons served on them on the ground that they were defective.
The 2nd defendant hinged its objection on the failure of the plaintiff to obtain leave of the court prior to the writ of summons, non-compliance with the provisions of Sections 98 and 99 of the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act Cap S 6 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and non-compliance with the provisions of Order 5 Rule 14 of the High Court of Kano State (Civil Procedure Rules 1988.
BAT argued that the plaintiff erroneously relied upon Order 12 Rule 21 of the Kano State (Civil Procedure Rules 1988 which it claimed is inapplicable.But for the BAT Investment Limited, the order should be set aside because the Order granting leave to serve it the writ of summons was wrongly granted.In his ruling, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent in Kano yesterday, Justice Abubakar Omar dismissed all the application of the defendants.He said, “The application of the 2nd defendant as contained in its notice of preliminary objection is devoid of any merit and same is hereby dismissed.The 3rd defendant’s application fails and is hereby dismissed.
With the resolution of all the six issues for determination against the 4th defendant/applicant, the entire application of the 4th defendant/applicant fails and it is hereby dismissed.”

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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



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Nigeria: 'Emulate Australia in Banning Tobacco Promotion'

Nasir Imam

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has called on the federal government to emulate Australia's move to ban the promotion of tobacco.
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.
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."
"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.

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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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