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• Modibbo vows to stamp out tobacco smoking 

MINISTER of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar has vowed that he will not relent on his oars at ensuring that war against tobacco smoking in the Federal Capital Territory was achieved.

Speaking yesterday while declaring open an Africa Regional Strategy Workshop on Tobacco Control organized by a Non-Governmental Organization, Framework Convention Alliance in Abuja, the Minister said that the battle against tobacco smoking in public places was just beginning, just as he urged all relevant authorities to impose stringent tax regime on tobacco product to make smoking an expensive venture.

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• Nigeria: Group Seeks Probe of 'Smoking' Parties (Page 1 of 1) 

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) yesterday urged the federal government to investigate on-going 'Experience Freshness' secret parties being organised by the British American Tobacco Nigeria to promote its Pall Mall cigarette brand.

It said the parties were being used to induce under-age persons into smoking.

ERA/FoEN, in a statement issued in Lagos, alleged that BAT has staged the "smoking" parties secretly in Sokoto, Kano, Ilorin, Ibadan while the most recent was held at Gateway Hotel, Kuto, Abeokuta on Wednesday, August alleging that the tobacco company has concluded plans to stage the next party in Akure, Ondo state.

"It is outrageous that BAT is still conducting itself this way just weeks after a BBC documentary revealed how the corporation had been marketing cigarettes to children across Africa and how it had used parties and concerts to lure people to smoking," the group's Programme Manager, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said.

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• ONOSE: Anti-Tobacco: Throwing Baby Out With Bath Water  

If tobacco smoking predisposes people to certain kinds of diseases, why not drive away the companies that produce the product? Unfortunately, it is not as simple as that.

For one, however hard we try, we cannot stop adults who want to smoke from indulging in it. . . .

because there is no reason to suppose that smokers will ever stop smoking, when we hound legal tobacco companies out of Nigeria, we will have to contend with the disturbing prospect of having our markets once again flooded with counterfeit tobacco. . . .

before the Federal Government invited British American Tobacco (BAT) to Nigeria in 2001 (a move that attracted over USD 150 million in foreign direct investment to our national economy), 80 percent of tobacco sold in Nigeria was illicit. . . .

Although all tobacco products are dangerous to the health, illicit tobacco is even more dangerous. . . .

Then under-age youth smoking, which appears to now be troubling our governments in more ways than ever before, would become even more endemic and more unrestrained. . . .

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Lastly, tobacco companies have been so exposed to deservedly vitriolic attacks that they now increasingly feel the need to demonstrate their commitment to the community development of their areas of operation-in order to show that they also "care." So, by a paradoxical turn of events, tobacco companies have become some of the pioneers of corporate social responsibility in Africa.

They have been at the vanguard in the fight against HIV/AIDS . . .

In the final analysis, although tobacco companies sell a product that is incontestably dangerous, when they are measured against the activities of illicit tobacco traders, they come away as the lesser of two evils. So in our legitimate distaste with tobacco products in our country, let's not throw away the baby with bath water. Fortunately, the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) has been alive to its responsibility in regulating and monitoring tobacco companies operating in Nigeria.

Recently, it made public its revised Standards on Cigarettes which took effect on July 1, this year. These revised standards impose stricter regulations on tobacco companies operating in our country, and I hear that they are being religiously obeyed. We should encourage more of this kind of regulation on a more frequent basis instead of ill-advisedly demanding the exit of legal tobacco companies from Nigeria.

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• Holding Tobacco Firms Accountable: How Realistic?  

It is because of the heavy burden the product imposes on public health in Nigeria that some governments are seeking legal redress for compensations from some multi-national tobacco firms. But, would there be any let off until justice is done? . . .

The leading light in the legal gymnastics to compel tobacco companies to face the wrath of the law for the destructions there have caused over the years, is Mr. Tunde Irukera, an erudite attorney, who is very devoted to the case. Speaking to THISDAY in an interview recently, Irukera agreed that the judicial process might be tortuous and painstaking, but his team was prepared to go the whole hog because the issues involved are those of life and death that should not be compromised. . . .

Otherwise, the counsel stated that his team was prepared to prosecute the case to its logical conclusion expressing the optimism that the day of reckoning would surely come. He said the action of the FCT in banning public smoking was significant. He hopes that other states of the federation would explore avenues to ensure that they tow the exemplary line set by the FCT administration.

According to WHO, cessation by the 1.1 billion current smokers would lower tobacco deaths over the next few decades.

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• I sell cigarettes to survive - Teen  

An encounter with young teen Naziru Mamuda, a cigarette seller who could not be sure of his age among a clique of friends’ gives insight into his unsual life.

The sight of young children under the ages of ten and above, selling cigarettes at gatherings is a common phenomenon for stadium, cinema and theatre goers in Kano State.

Naziru Mamuda is one of these minors selling cigarettes anytime there is a football match. He moves around the teeming football spectators with several packs of cigarettes and a box of matches in search of customers. While the spectators were busy watching the match, the young boy was busy making brisk business. . . .

“I don’t have my capital, we normally collect the packs from a retailer in our area and he doesn’t give more than five packs per child,” explains Naziru, adding that since one of them ran away with about 10 packets, their master reduced the number of packets to five. . . .

Abubakar said they collected a pack of Benson at N180, Rothmans also at N180, Aspen at N90, while Super King at also N90. “If we collect Benson at N180, we earn a profit of N20 when we sell it.”

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• Tobacco firms ask court to dismiss FG’s N5.3tn suit 

Tobacco manufacturers have asked a Federal High Court to dismiss a suit filed against them by the Federal Government in which government is asking for N5.3trn compensation for havoc done to under-aged smokers through their operations in Nigeria.

The companies include British American Tobacco (Nigeria) Limited, International Tobacco Limited, British American Tobacco Plc, British American Tobacco (Investment) Ltd. and Philip Morris International.

All the defendants, except Philip Morris International, have filed separate preliminary objections to the suit in which they challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to hear and determine the case.

The British American Tobacco (Nigeria) Limited in its objection filed by Mr. Kola Awodein, SAN, said that government was not entitled to the cost because it failed to produce documentary evidence to support its claim for medical costs allegedly expended on smokers.

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OKEKE: Ban On Smoking And Its Enforcement  

The recent ban on smoking in public places has attracted a lot of mixed feelings amongst Nigerians. This is because it is a welcome development for non-smokers while smokers view it as underestimating their personality. . . .

Some controversy exists between those who believe smoking is an individual choice and those who believe society has the right to act on its own behalf. People should learn to make choices that are healthy. Public health messages should target smokers at all stages. This is why the Federal Ministry of Health have cautioned that smokers are liable to die young. Smokers should abstain because delay could be dangerous.

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• Stakeholders to conduct tobacco situational analysis in Nigeria 

The Nigerian Heart Foundation (NHF) and the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) are to conduct a Nigerian Tobacco Situational Analysis. This was disclosed at a National Stakeholders Meeting on the Nigerian Tobacco Situational Analysis (NTSA) organised recently in Lagos. The meeting was sequel to the approval by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

The stakeholders recommended: Commissioning of a community based National Study using the household as the study unit; and International agencies should be involved in funding the countrywide studies that would generate adequate baseline data.

Executive Director of NHF, Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, said the meeting was a landmark event and a very important step in the move to make Nigeria a tobacco free Nation. . . .

An African Tobacco Situational Analysis (ATSA) consultant, Anne-Maria Schryer-Roy, said that her role at the meeting was to observe and participate as well as identify areas where the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) can be of assistance in the near future; and provide guidance where required.

She said the ATSA initiative; a partnership between IDRC and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a central aim of trying to understand the critical determinants of success for tobacco control in Sub-Saharan Africa, which will be used to inform the development and implementation of tobacco control strategies in the region.

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Tobacco in Nigeria to 2011 - New Research Report on Companies and Markets 

This databook is a detailed information resource covering all the key data points on Tobacco in Nigeria. It includes comprehensive value volume segmentation and market share data. The databook supplies actual data to 2006 and full forecasts to 2011.

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TV Pick of the Day: Duncan Bannatyne Takes On Tobacco 

1st July 2008

By BBC2, 9pm

Duncan Bannatyne is on the warpath tonight in a special BBC2 documentary.

In DUNCAN BANNATYNE TAKES ON TOBACCO, the Scottish entrepreneur reveals the alarming rise in under-age smoking amongst kids in Africa - and points the finger of blame directly at British American Tobacco and their marketing tactics.

In one primary school class that Duncan visits in Mauritius, non-smokers are actually in the minority.

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• Critic's choice - This World: Duncan Bannatyne Takes on Tobacco (BBC2) 

Entrepreneur and Dragons' Den hardman Duncan Bannatyne explores the lamentable world of tobacco advertising in the developing world.

He visits Mauritius, Nigeria and Malawi, investigating the sales strategy of British American Tobacco - a company which made a £2.1billion profit last year.

Bannatyne believes he's found evidence that suggests BAT is breaking its own code of conduct about the accessibility of cigarettes to children, and after researching the situation in each of the three African countries, he returns to London to confront BAT with his findings.

However, Bannatyne fails to create a sense of urgency, even though he talks to people who started smoking at the age of nine.

The programme looks at length at what young Africans know about the dangers of smoking, and finds that some schoolchildren smoke because they believe it "makes them wise".

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• British American Tobacco denies breaking youth code on cigarette sales 

Tobacco giant British American Tobacco PLC has denied claims made by a BBC investigation that it is breaking its code regarding the sale of single cigarettes, seen as more attractive to child smokers.

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• Tobacco giant 'breaks youth code' 

covering the sale of cigarettes to young people in Africa.

An investigation for the BBC has found evidence in Nigeria, Malawi and Mauritius of rules being broken.

In particular, BBC Two's This World found single cigarettes - which campaigners say are attractive to young people - were being promoted and sold.

The company involved, British American Tobacco (BAT), says it does not encourage the sale of single "sticks".

During the investigation carried out for BBC Two's This World programme, British businessman Duncan Bannatyne also discovers tactics used by BAT which circumvent bans on advertising and raise the profile of cigarettes in countries where doctors are warning of a potential epidemic of smoking-related diseases.

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EDITORIAL: The Abuja Smoking Ban 

smoking in public places has finally been outlawed in Abuja via a declaration by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar. That action, though long overdue, is a master stroke that signifies a new dawn for the city's public health. And the earlier the populace grasps the wisdom and urgency of the order, the better. . . .

. It should now be everybody's business to ensure that places like the stadium, public transport, restaurants, bars, lifts, offices, schools, hospitals, and streets in the nation's capital are smoke-free. In that regard, public institutions, corporate bodies, non-governmental organisations and individuals also have a responsibility to make the policy work. This attempt at sanitising Abuja should, ultimately, be extended to other cities in Nigeria. For, the preventive approach to health is always wiser and cheaper than the curative one.

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• Tobacco Suit: Phillip Morris Accused of Evading Service  

Legal theatrics in the N2.7 trillion suit between Lagos State government and six tobacco companies continued yesterday, with the claimants complaining that Switzerland-based Phillip Morris International, is still evading court summons service.

Lagos instituted the action to seek compensation over the health impacts of cigarette smoking on Lagosians. . . .

At the resumed hearing at the Lagos High Court, lead counsel to the state government and former Attorney General, Professor Yemi Oshinbajo, told Justice Bukola Adebiyi that the company has refused to accept court summons.

The case has been adjourned till September 16, 2008

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