•FG unveils tobacco control dashboard
•Begins implementation of new tax rate on tobacco
Onyebuchi Ezigbo
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said an estimated 30,000 Nigerians lose their lives yearly due to illnesses caused by tobacco.
The disclosure of the frightening health statistics came just as the federal government yesterday launched an initiative that would ensure the availability of accurate data on tobacco control activities and the disease prevalence are posted on dashboard to help intervention efforts.
Speaking on the occasion of this year’s World No Tobacco Day held in Abuja, yesterday, WHO Country Representative, Dr. Walter Kazuli Molumbo, expressed worry that non-communicable diseases were increasingly overtaken communicable diseases in terms of the number of deaths they cause in Nigeria.
Molumbo said: “Close to 30,000 lives are lost yearly due to tobacco-related illnesses. This is far more than the 3,000 lives claimed by the COVID-19 in the three years of the pandemic.”
He described tobacco as a silent killer which manifests through cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and other ailments.
According to Molumbo, this year’s event with the theme: “Tobacco: A threat to our environment,” presented an opportunity for Nigeria to right the wrongs of the past when the country failed to take necessary measures to check tobacco consumption.
Molumbo however commended the federal government for the current efforts to curb the negative impact of tobacco on the citizen.
He particularly commended the setting up of an emergency inter-ministerial committee to Fastrack action on advocacy and sensitisation programme.
Molumbo said the next meeting of the United Nations in September may be an opportunity for Nigeria to add her voice to the global efforts to end tobacco consumption.
While speaking on the importance of the tobacco monitoring dashboard, the Country Lead
Development Gateway, An IREX Venture, Seember Ali, said the essence of the initiative which was being funded by the WHO and Bill Gates Foundation was to try and fill the gaps in data in relation to damages caused by tobacco consumption in Nigeria.
She said the focus was to device a one-stop data shop for gathering of data that would help in anti-tobacco consumption advocacy.
The Executive Director, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Akinbode Oluwafemi said one of importance of the tobacco control dashboard was that it would enable advocates to effectively engage policy makers and other stakeholders towards achieving drastic reduction in the health hazards caused by tobacco in Nigeria.
On his part, the Minister of State for Health, Senator Adeleke Olorunnimbe Mamora said the prevalence of tobacco use was on the increase worldwide.
He said according to WHO, tobacco epidemic was one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing up to half of its users with more than eight million deaths recorded annually around the world.
The Minister further said more than seven million of those deaths were the result of direct tobacco use while
around 1.2 million were the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke or “what
some call “passive smoking.”
Meanwhile, the federal government has said it had started the implementation of a new tax regime for tobacco products in a bid to discourage consumption of the product in the country.
According to him, in compliance with the National Tobacco Act (2015) and Regulations (2019), the government has also commenced screening and issuing operational licences to qualified tobacco businesses in the country with a view to profiling and monitoring the industry activities nationwide.
The new licencing guideline requires strict adherence to a regulation that requires a package of tobacco products have the approved texts and graphic warning messages that will make users aware of the harmful effects of tobacco use. The tax rate amounted to an increase from 10 per cent to 30 per cent.
