Tobacco Usage Kills 80Percent Of 8Million People Annually In Nigeria - Report

 

As Nigeria joins rest of the world to commemorate World No Tobacco Day 2022, the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, Monday, tasked the Federal Government to stop tobacco pollution of the environment.

The call was made by the Executive Director, CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, at a press to mark the World No Tobacco Day 2022.

Oluwafemi explained essence of the World No Tobacco Day 2022, which he said the World Health Organisation, WHO, and its country partners draw attention to the health risks associated with tobacco use and encourage governments to adopt effective policies to reduce smoking and the fallouts of its use.

According to him, the message behind the theme of WNTD 2022, ‘Protect The Environment’ is the fact that, throughout its lifecycle, tobacco contaminates the environment and impacts adversely on the health of consumers and non- consumers alike.

He said: “From cultivation which involves the use of pesticides that are harmful to tobacco growers, to the cutting and burning of trees for tobacco curing which leads to deforestation (about 3.5 million hectares of land are destroyed each year) and the use of large quantities of water to cultivate tobacco, the health of man and the ecosystem is negatively impacted, and climate resilience reduced.

“In the manufacturing of cigarettes, tobacco companies are believed to contribute 84 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent to greenhouse gases. Disturbingly, because of stringent laws in the Global North, most of the tobacco corporations have relocated to low- and middle-income countries like Nigeria.

“As these companies continue their active marketing of lethal products in Africa, so do they also concentrate about 90% of tobacco production in the same region which now bears the highest environmental burdens.

“80 per cent of over 8 million people die every year due to tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke live in low- and middle-income countries under, which Nigeria is categorized.

“It is therefore fitting that as Nigeria joins the global community in commemorating the 2022 WNTD, the Nigerian government and the public health community look inwards and revisit the status of tobacco control in the country, especially the enforcement of the smoke-free public places policy contained in the National Tobacco Control (NTC) Act 2015.

“The indoor public places where smoking is restricted listed in the Second Schedule of the Act include healthcare facilities, primary and secondary education facilities, shops, police stations and prisons, higher education facilities, transport facilities, theaters, cinemas, and stadiums among others.

“Unfortunately, Section 9 of the Act provides for designated smoking areas to be created where there are “sufficient number of rooms” where smoking is prohibited.

“This provision falls short of the obligations of Parties implementing Article 8 of the WHO-FCTC on providing effective protection from public and workplace exposure to tobacco smoke, to completely prohibit smoking in all parts of all indoor public places; in all parts of all indoor workplaces; on all means of public transportation; and in specified outdoor or quasi-outdoor spaces where a hazard exists due to tobacco smoke exposure. Because of the lacuna in the Act, Nigerians, including children are daily exposed to secondhand smoke in many indoor public spaces, non -smokers working in bars and restaurants where cigarettes, shisha and other tobacco products are brazenly displayed and consumed are also victims.”