A new World Health Organisation (WHO) report and a powerful declaration from the World Conference on Tobacco Control reignite global calls to hold the tobacco industry liable in order to end decades of deadly deception, Joke Kujenya reports.
INSIDE A brightly lit hall in Ireland, delegates from over 100 countries stood and applauded, not for a victory won, but for a reckoning long overdue.
The 2025 World Conference on Tobacco Control (WCTC) had just adopted a hard-hitting declaration urging governments to firewall public health policy from the tobacco industry’s manipulative grip.
But far from the applause, in countries like Nigeria and South Africa, the fight continues on the frontlines – where lives are lost daily, where Big Tobacco’s lies still flourish, and where the future of millions of children is quietly sold for profit.
“It is time to make Big Tobacco pay for the abuses it has committed. Enough is enough,” declared Daniel Dorado Torres of Corporate Accountability
Prior to that, each year, over 8 million people reportedly die from tobacco-related diseases that are entirely preventable, as noted by the WCTC.
Similarly, the latest WHO Global Report on the Tobacco Epidemic (2025), reports that the tobacco industry’s pivot to e-cigarettes, heated products, and nicotine pouches is nothing more than a strategic rebranding exercise, deemed an effort to maintain profits while cultivating new generations of nicotine addicts.
WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, minced no words as he declares: “The evidence is clear: e-cigarettes are harmful, particularly for children and adolescents. We cannot allow a new generation to become dependent on nicotine.”
Yet the industry frames these products as “techno-innovations”- a term that Akinbode Matthew Oluwafemi, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), says is nothing but a smokescreen.
“You don’t call a product that kills innovation. You call it what it is: a health threat,” Akinbode declared at a virtual WCTC media briefing.
A Target on Africa
While Big Tobacco loses ground in wealthier countries, its focus has shifted to the Global South where regulatory loopholes and weaker enforcement offer fertile ground for exploitation.
Africa, in particular, has become a battleground, the report indicates.
In South Africa, where tobacco legislation passed two decades ago inspired regional action, new laws aim to tighten controls on e-cigarettes, ban point-of-sale advertising, and shield youth from predatory marketing.
But the tobacco giants are pushing back – and very hard.
“Philip Morris International chose South Africa for its ‘tech innovation’ summit to directly interfere with this progress,” says Akinbode. “The aim is clear: delay, dilute, and dismantle.”
With rising youth vaping rates across African cities, from Lagos to Johannesburg, the urgency could not be clearer.
The Global Youth Tobacco Survey also shows that in some African nations, up to 17% of teens have tried e-cigarettes – a figure that has doubled in the last five years.
One Treaty, 20 Years On: Is It Enough?
The WCTC report also adds that the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was hailed as a landmark achievement when it came into force in 2005, dubbing it the world’s first legally binding health treaty.
Today, 183 countries are signatories.
However, the WCTC 2025 Declaration doesn’t celebrate; it challenges. It calls on states to:
▪️Recognise the tobacco industry as the biggest barrier to global health progress
▪️Reject partnerships with industry-linked groups
▪️Hold corporations liable for decades of harm—including through legal and financial penalties
“We’ve made progress,” says Dr Tara Singh Bam, of the Asia Pacific Cities Alliance for Health and Development.
“But progress without protection is meaningless. Tobacco control must go beyond health ministries. It requires a whole-of-government approach,” Bam affirms.
Selling the Harm, the Hook, and the Palliatives
In its report, the WCTC reveals that in Colombia, tobacco-sponsored music festivals attract thousands of young people.
Same way in the Philippines and Indonesia, vape companies offer scholarships. And in Nigeria, branded kiosks sit just metres from schools.
“This is not transformation. This is vertical integration – selling addiction and then offering the crutches,” says Daniel Dorado of Corporate Accountability.
The industry has evolved, he adds, but the damage remains the same.
In Nepal, journalists Kalpana Acharya and Ram Prasad Neupane shared how tobacco companies lobby lawmakers, finance front groups, and flood media with misleading narratives.
But they also highlighted how strong, independent media can expose the rot.
A Call to Action: Make Big Tobacco Pay
The WCTC also adds that global campaign to Make Big Tobacco Pay via www.makebigtobaccopay.org is gaining traction.
Its core demand?
That governments hold tobacco corporations financially and legally accountable for the decades of death and deception.
Across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, communities are demanding restitution, not just regulations. This isn’t just about controlling tobacco. It’s about justice.
“Let’s stop treating this as a policy debate and start treating it as the global human rights emergency it is,” urges Akinbode.
On SOJO Lens: A Tobacco-Free Future is Possible
Projecting the task for the media, solutions journalism doesn’t merely diagnose as well as it asks what’s working.
The WCTC reiterated that countries like Thailand have banned e-cigarette sales outright.
In fact, Uruguay’s graphic warning labels have drastically reduced youth smoking rates.
In the Philippines, litigation against tobacco firms has led to modest financial penalties—proof that liability isn’t an abstract dream.
As things progress, the Declaration urges time-bound targets and national roadmaps to phase out both tobacco and nicotine products entirely.
WCTC states firmly further, “A tobacco-free generation is no longer a radical idea—it’s an achievable goal, if governments are willing to act with courage, not caution.”
