Tobacco.org

• Court Dismisses Tobacco Firms' Applications  

A Lagos High Court has dismissed three applications seeking to strike out the names of International Tobacco Company Limited, British American Tobacco Plc and British American Tobacco (investment) Limited from the $21 billion suit instituted by the Lagos State Government and Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN).

Ruling on the Notice of Preliminary Objection brought by the three defendants pursuant to Order 3 Rule 9 and Order 6 Rule 10 of the Lagos State [Civil Procedure] Rules 2004 and Section 98 and 99 of the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act. Cap 56, 2004, the trial judge, Justice Bukola Raliatu Adebiyi, held that the three tobacco companies are necessary parties to the suit and that their presence would be necessary to enable the court effectively and completely adjudicate on the suit.

The Judge said, "The court finds upon careful perusal of the Statement of Claim that the 3rd and 4th defendants are necessary parties to the suit as the presence will be necessary to enable the court effectively and completely adjudicate upon and settle all the questions in controversy.

" Following from the above reasoning, the court finds that the suit against the 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants are not liable to be struck out. In accordance with the above findings the applications of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th defendants fail in their entirety and are accordingly dismissed."

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• VIDEO: Nigeria's smoking habit 

Tobacco kills close to five million people yearly worldwide with over 70 percent of deaths occurring in developing countries including Nigeria where about 12 percent of the population are addicted to nicotine.

Now the Nigerian parliament seems to have responded with a tobacco control bill.

If passed, this could be the biggest tobacco crackdown in the history of Nigeria.

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• Nigeria Considers Tough Tobacco Control Legislation 

The Nigerian parliament is currently debating sweeping new tobacco control legislation in a bid to break the growing tobacco addiction in the country. The bill has strong backing from anti-tobacco groups and health organizations.

"Change starts from now. I dare to be different. I will remain smoke-free. I am the future, and the future starts now, So help me God. I am smoke free!!!," recite students at Shepherd Secondary School in Ketu in Lagos.

Students of the Shepherd Secondary School in Ketu, a poor neighborhood in Nigeria's sprawling city of Lagos, recite a "no-smoking pledge" at the end of a two-hour anti-tobacco lecture. The program is part of a grassroots initiative by anti-tobacco campaigners to counter growing cigarette smoking, particularly among teens in Nigeria.

About 25 percent of Nigerian teens, some as young as 10, are hooked on tobacco, double the smoking rate among men.

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• How Tobacco Bill Provoked Controversy in Senate  

Wife of former Chief Justice of Nigeria and member of the African Union Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Mrs. Maryam Uwais and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello are engaged in a healthy, even if needless, argument on the propriety or otherwise of disallowing children to participate in the recently-held public hearing on the Tobacco Control Bill in the Senate. Sufuyan Ojeifo examines the tenor of the controversy

The purpose of the public hearing on the Tobacco Control Bill held on July 20 and 21, this year, in the Senate Hearing Room One, was to get stakeholders’ input into the Bill, preparatory to the Third Reading (clause-by-clause consideration and passage).

From the various submissions at the hearing, it was evident that the anti-Tobacco Control Bill groups were in the minority. The majority groups understandably succeeded in swaying public sentiments in favour of the Bill, which was sponsored by Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora. . . .

Specifically, the proposed legislation is entitled: “A Bill for an Act to Repeal the Tobacco (Control) Act 1990 Cap T16 Laws of the Federation and to Enact the National Tobacco Control Bill 2009 to provide for the Regulation or Control of Production, Manufacture, Sale, Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship of Tobacco or Tobacco Products in Nigerian and for other Relates Matters.”

Expectedly, the issue was controversial. Apart from the British America Tobacco Nigeria (BATN), which attempted a diplomatic opposition, there was groundswell of support for the Bill. It agreed that tobacco had impact on public health, but supported appropriate regulation the industry as it would help to reduce the impact.

But the controversy that has unexpectedly bludgeoned its way into the public domain on account of the public hearing, organised by the Senate Committee on Health under the Chair of Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, centres on the propriety or otherwise of disallowing some school children to air their views on the occasion.

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• Customs Boss Commends BATN's Contribution to Nigerian Economy (Page 1 of 1) 

The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Dr. B.E. Nwadialo, has commended the British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) for its commitment to the development of the Nigerian economy, especially through employment generation and prompt payment of taxes and duties to the government.

He made the commendation during a media chat held after an inspection tour of BATN's state-of-the-art factory in Ibadan, Oyo State recently.

Describing BATN as a good corporate citizen, the Customs boss who was accompanied on the tour by top officers of his organisation, said that his command has been impressed with the company's commitment to the development objectives of the Federal Government through its prompt payment of taxes and duties to the government, pointing out that BATN has never defaulted.

He also disclosed that BATN has for some time now been assisting the Nigerian Customs in its job of policing the nation's territorial borders. This, he said followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the company and the Nigeria Customs Service. . . .

He said that apart from the donation of the vans, BATN has also contributed a lot to the training of officers and men of the command, by sponsoring their participation in international workshops on piracy and smuggling.

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• Big Tobacco Sets Its Sights on Africa 

In recent years, the world has increasingly been cleaving into two zones: smoking and nonsmoking. In the U.S. and other developed countries, Big Tobacco is in retreat, chased to the curbs by a combination of lawsuits, smoking bans, rising taxes and advertising restrictions. Fewer than 20% of adult Americans now smoke -- the lowest rate since reliable records have been kept -- and a tobacco crackdown is under way in Europe, Canada and elsewhere. In April, Congress boosted federal cigarette taxes threefold, from 32 cents a pack to $1. In June, President Barack Obama signed a law giving the FDA the power to regulate cigarettes like any other food or drug.

But the West is not the world, and elsewhere smoking is exploding. In China, 350 million adults are hooked on tobacco, which means the country has more smokers than the U.S. has people. Smoking rates in Indonesia have quintupled since 1970. In Russia, boys as young as 10 start lighting up. This year, tobacco companies will produce more than 5 trillion cigarettes -- or 830 for every person on the planet.

It's in Africa, however, that the battle for the hearts, minds and lungs of new smokers is being waged most aggressively -- and Nigeria offers a telling look at how the fight is unfolding. . . .

Big Tobacco's footprint in Africa has been hard to miss for a while. British American markets its wares — which include Dunhill and Pall Mall — in a vast crescent sweeping from South Africa to Congo and west to Ghana, as well as throughout North Africa. In 2003 the company planted its stakes deeper, building a $150 million factory in Nigeria. Philip Morris, whose brands include Marlboro and Chesterfield, has a smaller presence on the continent. "We are a minor, minor player," says spokesman Greg Prager. But that could change. The company does no business in Nigeria, but it controls about 15% of the market across North Africa and has a scattered 10% share elsewhere. It has also built a new factory in Senegal.

That expansion increasingly happens through the single-stick model, and that's the traffic that causes the most worry.

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• BATN Backs Tobacco Control Bill  

British American Tobacco of Nigeria (BATN) pledged on Tuesday to comply with a new legislation that seeks to control tobacco use in the country when it becomes operational.

BATN Area Head of Regional Affairs, Tony Okwoju, made the pledge before the Senate Committee on Health headed by Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello.

The committee concluded its two-day public hearing on a bill to enact National Tobacco Control at Tuesday's sitting.

Okwoju said in addition to paying N80 billion tax, the company in 2002 established the BATN Foundation which to date has completed 77 community projects in 34 of the 36 states in Nigeria. . . .

"There are provisions in the bill, which we believe are either extreme and would have unintended consequences or will only make it difficult or impossible for the legal industry to operate, without necessarily achieving the desired objective of reducing the impact of tobacco on public health.

"We have seen cases where extreme regulation has resulted in an increase in the levels of illicit trade"

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• Senate denies bribery allegation on tobacco law 

No senator has been bribed to influence the passage or otherwise of the National Tobacco Control Bill, Senate President David Mark said yesterday while declaring the public hearing on the bill open.

Senator Mark said the issue of checking cigarette smoking was contentious as there are global lobbyists for ban of tobacco smoking as there are also organisations against the ban saying, “I have heard all sorts of stories about lobbyists trying to see that the public hearing does not go on, or that lobbyists insist that the public hearing must go on.

We must begin to accept that our legislators are patriotic Nigerians they don’t need to take money in any form to do anything at all. There is too much rumour in the air, rumour based on nothing absolutely.

If you have a strong case, make your case, when you fail to make your case then you go with the excuse that people have been bribed that that has happened nobody is going to bribe anybody on any bill that will come before the Senate or the House of Representatives any bill that comes here will pass through the normal process.”

The Senate President expressed reservation on the bill saying “I will remain neutral on this bill because the two key issues are health versus economy. How many jobs can we provide from the tobacco industry? How many people are going to lose their jobs now if the tobacco industries are not able to produce in this country? More importantly, if the tobacco Industries here close down, will it stop Nigerians from smoking?

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• Nigeria's tobacco lobby fumes over anti-tobacco bill  

British American Tobacco Nigeria and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria on Tuesday expressed their opposition to a proposed anti-tobacco bill to be discussed in parliament.

The bill seeks to ban smoking in public places and forbids persons under the age of 18 to sell and buy tobacco products.

The proposed law, which would amend the 1990 Tobacco Control Laws of Nigeria, also forbids communication between the manufacturers and consumers.

The bill, if passed into law, "will force legal tobacco companies out of business because they will be forced to shut down their operations", a representative of British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN), Tony Okwoju, told a public hearing, organised by the senate committee on health.

He said that certain provisions in the bill were "either extreme and would have unintended consequences or will only make it difficult or impossible for the legal industry to operate without necessarily achieving the desired objective of reducing the impact of tobacco on public health".

"The effect of passing a law that is not adequately considered is that it will undermine its own intentions by placing tobacco outside of the control of the regulator, thereby leaving those who continue to smoke at the mercy of smugglers," said Okwoju.

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• Gombe files N591 billion suit against tobacco companies  

THE Gombe State government has dragged five tobacco companies before the Gombe State High Court on charges that they have been targeting minors with their products in the state in the last 20 years with a view to making them addicts.

In the suit before a high court judge, Abdul Hamed Yusuf, the state government is demanding N591 billion from British American Tobacco (Nigeria) Ltd, International Tobacco Limited, British America Tobacco Plc, British America Tobacco (Investment) Ltd, and Philip Morris International.

It is one of several class action suits filed by some states and the Federal Government against tobacco companies operating in the country. . . .

The case has been adjourned to July 2, 2009 to allow the plaintiff serve all the parties in the suit.

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• ‘13m Nigerians’re Smokers’ 

The average rate of active smokers in Nigeria was yesterday put at 13 million , while adult smoking rate was put at 17 percent.

Speaking at the sensitisation meeting for members of Osun State House of Assembly on Osun State proposed Smoke Free Bill, the State Commissioner for Health,Lanre Afolabi, noted that since half smokers die of tobacco related diseases, it also showed that over 6.5 million Nigerians are on death row due to tobacco addiction.

The commissioner stressed that it was alarming that in 2003 the overall prevalence of tobacco for youths in Nigeria was 18.1 percent and for senior executive 13.9 percent. He also gave the figure of the rapidly growing annual average rate of tobacco use in Africa and developing countries as 4.7 percent compared with the 3.4 percent of other countries.

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• Anti-Tobacco Bill Won't Affect Firms - Adedibu  

Chairman Senate Committee on Industry, Kamorudeen Adedibu, has assured that the anti-tobacco bill will be amended before it is passed to law.

Adedibu, who spoke with journalists in Ibadan at the weekend, maintained that the bill will be amended in such a way that it will not be to the disadvantage of tobacco companies in the country.

According to him, the bill is currently before the Senate Committee on Health headed by Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello. . . .

"We know that cigarette smoking is not good, but we want to find job opportunities for our people. The bill will be amended in such a way that it will not force tobacco companies in the country to close down," he said.

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• Anti-Tobacco Bill: 400,000 jobs on the line 

If passed into law, the National Tobacco Bill which is currently on the floor of the National Assembly will lead to at least 400,000 Nigerians being thrown into the unemployment market.

This was the view expressed by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Industries, Senator Kamorudeen Adedibu while speaking with reporters recently in Iseyin, Oyo State at the 2008 Farmers' Productivity Day/Award Ceremony.

Describing the bill as a "misplaced priority" for the country, Adedibu who represents Oyo South in the Senate also vowed to mobilize his colleagues in the upper legislative chamber to ensure that the bill is defeated.

"The bill is actually more than regulation. It is more than that. The bill if it goes through and Insha Allah, it won't, will render the tobacco companies useless. It is going to increase smuggling and most especially, it is going to stop the necessary means of livelihood for over 400,000 people," the Senator stated.

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• MAYAH: The new tobacco war 

Buffeted on all fronts by public health agencies, anti-tobacco activists, federal legislature and multi-billion dollar lawsuits, it is a miracle the industry is still standing on all fours.

Even the tobacco companies agree they are buckling at the knees but warn that the campaign to strangulate the legitimate tobacco industry can only be a trap door to an underhand and illegitimate tobacco inustry characterized by smugglers, illegal manufacturers, toxic cigarettes and a plethora of social woes. . . .

Yanked off the screen and radio were those glitzy, happy-go-lucky, cigarette commercials, one of which carried the infectious tune of the musical group, Lighthouse. Similarly, tobacco advertising in newspapers, magazines and journals became prohibited. . . .

At the moment, Nigeria is in search of right regulation that can reduce the impact of smoking on public health. The National Tobacco Control Bill (SB. 221), at the moment also is on the floor of the Senate. Industry operators are saying it is hardly the panacea to public health; if anything, they say it is the ticket to the Canadian experience and would forcibly shut their operations in Nigeria. They point for instance at Clause 23 (2) (c) which says any citizen concerned about tobacco can enforce the provisions of the law. In enforcing the law, such a person can seize anything if he or she believes that the law is being broken.

They say the implication is that anybody can enter a tobacco company and seize anything at anytime. They fear that no company can operate under such conditions and would be forced to shut down their operations. Making their voice heard, industry operators say that if the Bill happens, it would impact on the livelihood of the approximately 2,500 people who are directly employed by the industry and the over 300,000 - farmers, suppliers, retailers etc- who indirectly earn a living from the industry.

They are quick to add that government will lose over 100 billion Naira in revenue from excise duty, import duties, VAT, corporate tax, PAYE etc.

To save Nigeria from the chaos of a market run by traffickers, these stakeholders say less harm would be recorded if the Senate sticks to the tobacco bill passed only last year by the House of Representatives. The House Bill, which had fewer controversial clauses than the Senate Bill was discarded by the Upper House in a seemingly controversial circumstances.

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• Moves to Curb Tobacco Menace... 

These were the words of Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Deputy Minority Leader of the Senate, (AC, Lagos) while kick-starting the debate on the bill to control tobacco smoking on the floor of the Senate penultimate week in Abuja. Titled “National Tobacco Control Bill, 2009” the bill seeks to control the manufacture, sale, advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco or tobacco products in Nigeria.

Even before the Senate stepped up its bid to control tobacco consumption and marketing in Nigeria, the world health body has been in the forefront of documenting as well as forecasting all the ills of the product in developing countries. WHO states that within 25 years, tobacco will cause 10 million deaths a year—far more than malaria, maternal deaths, childhood infections and diarrhoea combined. At least, half of the dead will be aged 30 to 69, losing about 25 years of life expectancy to the devastating product. The same addiction that became the top preventable cause of death in western countries has made big inroads in developing nations. WHO estimates that given current trends, smoking will kill about one billion people in the 21st century, mostly in developing countries.

With this grim statistics, many applauded the intervention of the highest law making body in the land in checkmating the tobacco firms from causing more havoc. One of the leading lights in tobacco suits in Nigeria, Mr. Tunde Irukera, once told THISDAY in an interview that there was a dire need for a legislative framework in tobacco control in Nigeria. The Senate finally took the gauntlet when the bill to control tobacco passed through the Second Reading last week.

Presenting the bill on the floor of the Senate, Mamora said the bill would provide for the regulation or control of production, manufacture, sale, advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco or tobacco products in Nigeria and for other related matters. . . .

According to him, that the Senate opted for a fast-track of the passage of the bill showed they understood the magnitude of the tobacco menace on the lives of Nigerians and particularly the under-aged that are conscripted into smoking through dubious marketing tactics.

If passed into law, it would become an offence to sell or market tobacco products to persons less than 18 years with a fine of N50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or both for whoever flouts the law.

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