By JKNewsMedia
PROPOSED AMENDMENT to Nigeria’s National Tobacco Control Act 2015 could weaken the country’s tobacco control framework and create loopholes for nicotine addiction, particularly among young people, the Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research (ATIM) has warned.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that the organisation urged the National Assembly (NASS) to reconsider provisions on “Tobacco Harm Reduction” in the harmonised Bill, saying the changes could undermine gains made in reducing smoking prevalence.
ATIM said the amendment process was initially presented as an effort to strengthen implementation of the 2015 Act, correct identified weaknesses and close loopholes affecting emerging tobacco and nicotine products.
However, it said the harmonised Bill considered by the House of Representatives introduced “Tobacco Harm Reduction” (TRH) as an objective of the legislation and created separate provisions for non-combustible products, including electronic nicotine products and nicotine pouches.
ATIM noted that the shift warranted greater transparency and public scrutiny, particularly as tobacco control activists regard “THR” as a tactic used by the industry to market products such as vapes, e cigarettes, heated tobacco products, smokeless nicotine pouches and other electronic nicotine delivery systems by claiming they can help tobacco users quit.
“Nigeria should be strengthening the measures that have helped reduce smoking, not creating new policy openings that could undermine those gains,” ATIM said.
The organisation noted that adult smoking prevalence in Nigeria is now estimated at around 5 to 6 per cent, describing the figure as substantial progress compared with previous decades.
It urged the government to prioritise comprehensive smoke free environments, stronger taxation and health warnings, prohibition of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, improved cessation support, measures against illicit trade and stronger implementation of Article 5.3 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC).
ATIM also warned that emerging nicotine products could create a new pathway to addiction, particularly among young people.
“Nothing prevents Nigeria from adopting evidence-based cessation or risk reduction interventions where they are independently demonstrated to benefit population health,” the organisation said. “But there is no need to embed a changing and contested commercial concept such as ‘Tobacco Harm Reduction’ as a statutory objective.”
It called on the National Assembly to explain how the provisions concerning “Tobacco Harm Reduction” and non-combustible products entered the harmonised Bill.
ATIM stressed that it had not established that the tobacco industry drafted or caused the insertion of the provisions. However, it said their source should be publicly explained because of the growing commercial importance of new nicotine products to multinational tobacco companies.
The organisation demanded disclosure of stakeholders who proposed the provisions, submissions received during the legislative process, meetings held with tobacco and nicotine industry representatives or organisations representing their interests, and the evidence used to develop the differentiated regulatory framework.
It said such disclosure was particularly important under Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC, which requires governments to protect tobacco control policies from the commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.
ATIM further urged tobacco control organisations, researchers, professional associations and public health advocates across Africa to monitor developments in Nigeria, warning that the country’s legislation could set an important precedent for tobacco control policy elsewhere on the continent.
“Nigeria has made important progress in reducing smoking.
The task now is to accelerate that progress towards a genuinely smoke free generation, not create new opportunities for nicotine addiction or reopen policy space for an industry whose commercial future increasingly depends on new nicotine products,” ATIM said.
The organisation, again, called on the NASS to ensure that any amendment to the Tobacco Control Act strengthens Nigeria’s public health protections and remains aligned with the WHO FCTC.
All tobacco control activists, comprising, the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA), Gatefield Impact (GI), Nigerian Cancer Society (NCS), Association of Resident Doctors (ARDs), Abuja and other members of the Nigerian Tobacco Control Community (NTCC), last Thursday, demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Bill.
They also urged President Bola Tinubu to withhold assent if the text is presented for executive approval.
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