Tobacco.org

• 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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ABAH: Tobacco: The party is over 

Soon, the city stood with bated breath to watch what was to become the most significant event in tobacco control history in Nigeria: Abuja taking the lead in joining the prestigious league of major capitals and cities across the world to declare its public places smoke-free.

The starting-off rally would awe even the venerable rainmaker. Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, the six-footer minister of the FCT, and the brain behind the ban, towered above tobacco control activists, government officials, students, banner-bearing youths, and several others numbering over 5,000 as they matched solemnly, a la funeral procession, from the Millennium Park to the Eagle Square. . . .

But no matter how they manipulate the truth, the fact remains that for them, the party is over. If the Western public and governments would wake to the reality that tobacco does not belong in modern life, and give it an aggressive push, Nigerians will bury it on this vibrant Sub-Saharan soil. What transpired in Abuja is only a shadow of even greater affront against this evil in this land of greatness. Raised taxes on tobacco packs and the industry, ban of sale-by-stick, comprehensive advertisement ban, all in line with the provisions of the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Convention (to which Nigeria is a signatory) will all soon follow, naturally. Their arsenal of lies and deception, like that of the failed rainmaker's pouch, will soon be exhausted.

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Nigerians Smoke 6 Million Sticks Of Tobacco Daily - Modibbo 

Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Dr. Modibbo Umar says Nigerians smoke six million sticks of tobacco daily and 195 million sticks in a month, stressing that his administration’s resolve to ban tobacco smoking in public places was informed by the debilitating effects of smoking on not only the smokers but on non-smokers in general.

"The statistic is disturbing," Umar said at the official declaration of the federal capital territory as smoke-free. . . .

He warned that as from June 1, it would constitute a criminal offence for anyone to smoke tobacco in public places in the territory.

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FG adopts WHO policy on tobacco promotion 

THE Federal Government in accordnance with the call by the World Health Organisations (WHO) to ban all advertisments, promotions and sponsorships on tobacco product, has banned all forms of advertisement on tobacco products. . . .

Delivering WHO message to mark the 2008 World No Tobacco Day, with the theme, “Tobacco Free Youth” at a one - day School Debate on “Does Exposure to Tobacco Advertising Influence Young People to Become Regular Tobacco Users” organized by the Nigeria Heart Foundation (NHF) in collaboration with United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Lagos, Director of UNIC, Mr. Tetsuo Ohno explained that this year’s campaign focuses on the multi-billion dollar efforts of tobacco companies to attract young people to its addictive products through sophisticated marketing.

Quoting WHO, Ohno said “Recent studies prove that the more young people are exposed to tobacco advertising, the more likely they are to start smoking. Despite this, only 5 per cent of the world population is covered by comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

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FASAN: Abuja and Lagos - a twin story 

As the world marked the World No Tobacco Day about a fortnight ago with the call by the WHO for a worldwide ban on tobacco advertisement, the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory took the hitherto unprecedented step of banning smoking in public. . . .

This is to show that Abuja is not new to hard nosed policies. The latest ban on smoking in public follows a familiar pattern.

The question is how do the authorities of the FCT hope to implement this policy? It wouldn't be easy but no worthwhile policy has ever been. Nigerians don't appear bothered by it. . . .

with the increasing cases of lung cancer among non-smokers (witness Yemi Tella, Gani Fawehinmi and the countless others without access to medical checks) there is every need to curb the effects of passive smoking . . .

Lagos and Abuja are today Nigeria's most cosmopolitan cities and they are for many reasons best suited to test the appropriateness or otherwise of new policies of directed change aimed at entrenching civilised behaviour in certain respects.

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• EDITORIAL: fct and the ban on tobacco smoking 

THE enforcement of the ban on cigarette smoking in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, was not, as law enforcement agencies would bear witness, a tea party. As the police made spirited attempts to hand the 'area boys' who flagrantly disobeyed the law, they too fought back and the TV cameras recorded the exciting affray which ensued on national network.

THE following day, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), in its early morning network news, even captured a part of the public anger, when some members of the public that were interviewed complained that what the police did the previous day was no more than a brazen violation of basic human rights . . .

WE think the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory should be encouraged in the direction of this noble cause, especially the strict enforcement of its laws on smoking and we commend it to other states. We also recommend that the state should embark on a heavy public enlightenment campaign against cigarette smoking generally and against smoking it in public places.

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