Reacting to an article entitled ‘A Case for Prudent Regulation of the Tobacco Industry,’ by Akeem Ogunlade of the Centre for Promotion of Enterprise and Business Best Practices, Oluchi Joy Robert of ERA/FoEN, pointed out that “tobacco currently kills more than seven million people each year. More than six million of these deaths are those who use tobacco directly, while another 890,000 die from exposure to second-hand smoke.
“Worried by the rising deaths from tobacco use, the World Health Organisation, WHO, initiated the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, FCTC, which was adopted by the 56th World Health Assembly in May 2003 as the first global public health treaty. Nigeria became party to this treaty in 2005. “It’s that kind of regulation that keeps the tobacco industry in their comfort zone, maintaining high record profits while our brothers and sisters wallow in disease and preventable deaths.
“The excess would ultimately be sold elsewhere and for the tobacco industry, it gets paid regardless of how and where the products are sold. In Canada, subsidiaries of giant tobacco firms were found guilty of tobacco smuggling and collectively fined C$1.7 billion over a 10 year period spanning 2000 to 2010, when the cases went to court.
“The excess would then be smuggled into EU countries and sold in the black market, thereby depriving governments of tax and customs revenue.“Whatever the intent of Ogunlade’s rhetoric is for advocating for more space for tobacco entities to manipulate tobacco control, it is anti-public health and anti-public good. What Nigeria needs at this moment is conscientious and stringent enforcement of provisions of the National Tobacco Control Act, 2015.
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