By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), marks World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), with a wake-up call to the Federal Government, (FG) to enforce Tobacco Laws in the Country.
May 31 is the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). This year’s theme is “Protecting children from tobacco industry interference” highlighting how tobacco industries have continued to target young individuals.
The group tasked the government at all levels to embark on effective enforcement of both National Tobacco Control Act 2015 and the National Tobacco Regulation 2019.
The World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), is a global campaign led by World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco use. Millions of people die each year in Tobaco-related ailments.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2022, at least 37 million young people between 13 and 15 years use some form of tobacco globally.
Many youths are taking to new products by the industry that include electronic cigarette, Shisha among others.
According to Akinbode Oluwafemi, CAPPA Executive Director said, “With growing evidence showing that the tobacco industry deliberately targets our youths, the Nigerian government must intensify efforts for diligent enforcement of the Tobacco Act, particularly sections that protect initiation and the health of young ones.
“Those provisions in the Tobacco Act that are targeted at protecting the youth include the ban of tobacco advertisement sponsorship and promotion, ban on the sale of tobacco to, or by minors, and smoke-free public places, among others.
“Apart from those measures, there is also the need to raise tobacco taxes so they are priced beyond the reach of our children and the ban of the sale of tobacco products arounds schools and educational institutions.” He mentioned .
CAPPA commended the NFVCB for introducing the regulation on glamorization of smoking in Nigerian movies, saying the Board has taken a globally applauded step to block a major tool used by the tobacco industry to lure the youth into smoking.
“Our children should enjoy healthy screens. We applaud the censors board for this timely, public health-driven regulation which has also been commended by a great number of practitioners in the Nigerian movie industry and will be looking forwards to its effective enforcement, Oluwafemi further stated.