Jump to full article: Vanguard (ng), 2008-08-13
Author: Osereme Onose
Intro: 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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