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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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