NIGERIA AND THE TOBACCO MENACE

    Existing laws should be enforced

The 2026 edition of the World No Tobacco Day was marked yesterday with the theme, “Unmasking the appeal – countering nicotine and tobacco addiction.” For Nigeria, it was a reminder that legislation without enforcement means nothing. Ten years ago, Nigeria was still struggling to enact comprehensive tobacco control legislation despite ratifying the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) in 2005. The breakthrough finally came on 27 May 2015, with the National Tobacco Control Act, followed by implementing regulations in 2019.

These laws represent significant progress: they prohibit smoking in public places, ban tobacco advertising and sponsorship, restrict sales to minors, prohibit single-stick cigarette sales, mandate graphic health warnings, and establish safeguards against tobacco industry interference in public policy. More recently, Nigeria developed its first National Tobacco Control Enforcement Plan designed to strengthen coordination among the Federal Ministry of Health, NAFDAC, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Customs, and law enforcement agencies. On paper, the architecture for tobacco control is impressive.

But implementation remains the Achilles heel. Despite existing prohibitions, tobacco advertising continues through subtle lifestyle branding and entertainment media. Single-stick cigarette sales, which make tobacco more affordable to children and low-income Nigerians, remain commonplace in markets and kiosks across the country. Enforcement of smoke-free public spaces is sporadic at best. And Nigeria still falls significantly below WHO and ECOWAS recommendations on tobacco taxation, making cigarettes dangerously affordable to young people.

The stakes could not be higher. Approximately 28,000 tobacco-related deaths occur annually in Nigeria. While adult smoking prevalence remains relatively low compared to many countries, adolescent exposure to tobacco and nicotine products is rising at an alarming rate. The tobacco industry, facing declining markets in strictly regulated developed countries, has predictably pivoted to developing nations with large youth populations and weak enforcement systems. Their tactics have evolved; today’s youth are targeted through traditional cigarettes, and through e-cigarettes, and other emerging nicotine delivery systems that are only partially regulated or entirely unregulated in Nigeria.

The health consequences are well-documented. Tobacco contributes to cancers, heart disease, stroke, chronic respiratory diseases, infertility, and diabetes complications. The economic burden is equally devastating; healthcare expenditure for tobacco-related illnesses, productivity losses, and premature deaths imposes enormous costs on families and the national economy. These are costs that Nigeria, with its already strained healthcare system, can ill afford. Meanwhile, the tobacco industry’s response to regulation has been characteristically cynical. Companies continue to present themselves as corporate citizens through highly publicised “grants” and “donations,” token gestures that do not remotely cover the public health costs they impose on communities. They claim to employ, while the actual numbers on their payrolls are negligible compared to the families devastated by tobacco-related diseases and deaths.

What Nigeria needs now is not more legislation but political will. First, tobacco taxes must be significantly increased to meet WHO and ECOWAS benchmarks. Higher prices are proven to reduce youth smoking and generate revenue for healthcare. Second, enforcement of existing laws must be strengthened with clear penalties for violations and accountability mechanisms for regulatory agencies. Third, emerging nicotine products must be brought under comprehensive regulation before they create a new generation of nicotine-dependent young Nigerians. Fourth, public health policy must be protected from tobacco industry interference, no more industry-funded “stakeholder consultations” or misleading “harm reduction” narratives.

Equally critical are sustained investments in youth-focused prevention campaigns and accessible smoking cessation services. Public education must evolve beyond generic warnings to address the specific tactics used to target Nigerian youth through social media, entertainment, and peer influence. Ten years after the global momentum that led to Nigeria’s tobacco control legislation, we must ask ourselves: have we merely created the illusion of action? The test of any law lies not in enactment but in its enforcement.