Dr. Osagie Ehanire, Honourable Minister of Health. (Credit: Facebook – FMoH)
By press release
Policy Alert, a non-governmental advocacy group working for economic and environmental justice, has called on the Nigerian Government to ensure strict enforcement of graphic health warning requirements on tobacco products.
The call was contained in a statement issued in Abuja and signed by the organisation’s Communications Officer, Nneka Luke-Ndumere.
Going by the National Tobacco Control (NTC) Act 2015 and the Tobacco Control Regulations 2019, Nigeria is expected to begin enforcement of graphic health warnings (GHWs) which must henceforth be on the packs, must cover 50% of the front and back of the tobacco product package from June 23, 2021.
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The statement called on the public to monitor compliance by tobacco companies to reduce tobacco related harm and economic losses in the country.
“Although GHWs are critical to tobacco control, they cannot on their own make miracles happen unless government combines robust enforcement and penalties along with a gamut of other legal, policy and behavioural measures.”
“While we are optimistic on the potential of graphic health warnings as a strategy for reducing tobacco consumption, we must remind stakeholders that one of the most important actions Nigeria can take right now is to increase tobacco excise taxation, as this would not only reduce tobacco consumption and increase health outcomes, but also substantially raise government revenues”
The statement noted that Nigeria is still charging less than 25 percent of cigarette retail price as Excise Tax, a far cry from the recommended 70 percent by the World Health Organisation (WHO), with the specific tax per cigarette much lower than the sub-regional benchmark set by the ECOWAS tobacco tax directive.
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“This translates to huge potential revenue loss for the economy while also encouraging the growth of this murderous industry” Policy Alert stated.
“Effective enforcement will be key to success, but this will not come without a fight knowing the pernicious influence of the tobacco industry. The law enforcement agencies will need to hit the ground running. We call on government to provide the relevant agencies with the tools and training needed for effective enforcement of this very important milestone in our tobacco control efforts.
Courtesy of Federal Ministry of Health.
“As part of our Corporate Accountability Programme, we will continue to monitor and report on activities of both the industry players and the law enforcement agencies to reduce the risk of industry interference with enforcement efforts.
“We urge the Nigerian government to adopt a graduating scale in raising taxes on tobacco products so that tobacco products in Nigeria become increasingly less affordable to smokers.”
The organisation also called for increased government investment in smoking cessation services especially by subnational governments at the primary health care level so that such services can be offered free of charge to smokers who want to quit smoking.
Policy Alert added that tobacco is a bigger and more insidious pandemic responsible for more than eight million deaths globally each year.
