Robert Egbe
Two months ago, Nigeria’s tobacco control community made a startling discovery. Two bills seeking to amend the National Tobacco Control Act (NTCA) 2015 and strengthen its protection of Nigerians, had apparently been compromised.
Both bills; HB 1151 and HB 47, were presented to the public on November 22, 2024, during a public hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Healthcare Services. HB 1151 is a one-page document which proposed stiffer penalties for breaching smoking regulations. HB 47 is a three-page document to address certain defects in the NTCA 2015.
But tobacco control advocates found that not only had the four-page amendments been surreptitiously transformed to 31 pages, the proposed amendments publicly discussed during the November hearing were also different from what is now in a new consolidated bill.
Alarmingly, the new proposals remove core protections in the NTCA 2015. They also seek to create a weaker, commercially acceptable regime for highly addictive electronic cigarettes, heated tobacco products, nicotine pouches and non-combustible products.
The plan, before it was uncovered, was to somehow quietly deliver these harmful amendments to President Bola Tinubu for assent.
For public health advocates, it had all the imprints of tobacco industry interference.
This tactic of attempting to compromise national legislation by underhand means, is straight out of the tobacco industry’s playbook to deny, delay and dilute public health policies that keep the public safe.
The industry, backed bya multimillion-dollar public relations war chest, has a long, documented history of scheming to influence the policy environment in which it operates, by hook or by crook.
The goal, whether in Vietnam, United Kingdom, Thailand, Indian, and elsewhere on the globe, is to create, consolidate, or expand a market for its products, especially, the New and emerging tobacco and nicotine products, no matter the lives destroyed by addiction, disease or death.
The NTCA 2015 Act and other regulations is the basic tool to protect Nigerians from this sort of danger, but several institutions that can help in this regard, such as the National Tobacco Control Committee (NATOCC) and the Tobacco Control Unit of the Federal Ministry of Health & Social Welfare (FMoH&SW), are hamstrung, year in year out, by funding constraints.
In the meantime, tobacco interference continues to grow. Nigeria cannot claim to be protecting its citizens from tobacco-related disease while starving tobacco control institutions of the resources they need to act.
Sadly, this is precisely what the 2026 Appropriation Act did by reducing the already pitiful N13 million national tobacco control budget for 2025, to about N9.2 million this year.
For context, Nigeria requires a minimum of N300 million yearly, to find tobacco control. The consequences of this failure to adequately fund tobacco control are real. More than ever before, Nigerians are now more defenceless against the tobacco industry’s devious tactics to addict our children and young adults to nicotine, and compromise their health for profit.
The industry should not be allowed to outspend public health. Nigeria’s tobacco-control framework must be protected from conflicts of interest and commercial interference.
In January 2025, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) called on the National Assembly to raise the tobacco control allocation to at least N300 million.
CAPPA’s argument, then and now, is that the N10 million allocation was already grossly inadequate to meet the responsibilities imposed by the National Tobacco Control Act (NTCA) 2015.
Why a minimum of N300 million? The NTCA Act 2015 places important obligations on government tobacco-control institutions. These responsibilities include policy coordination, public education, monitoring and enforcement, research, protection of smoke-free spaces and action against tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.
There is also the need for the National Tobacco Control Committee (NATOCC), a multi-sectoral body established by the Federal Government to the Ministry of Health & Social Welfare (FMoH&SW) on tobacco control policies and enforcement, and the Tobacco Control Unit of the FMoH&SW to function effectively. Without adequate funding, it cannot implement public health campaigns, hold mandated meetings or coordinate stakeholders, among other things.
Sustained public education is another key activity: The tobacco and nicotine industry has the resources to develop sophisticated marketing campaigns, build corporate relationships, cultivate favourable public narratives and exploit emerging platforms, including social media.
Government cannot counter these strategies with an allocation that cannot adequately fund basic monitoring and public communication.
Funding is equally necessary for enforcement. Tobacco-control laws fail if violations cannot be detected, documented and prosecuted. Smoke-free provisions must be monitored. Advertising and sponsorship restrictions must be enforced. Emerging nicotine products must be properly regulated. Children and young people must be protected from marketing strategies designed to make addictive products appear fashionable, harmless or socially desirable.
These are all components of a functioning tobacco-control system: It must be emphasised that tobacco remains one of the most preventable causes of disease and premature death. In Nigeria, tobacco-related illnesses contribute to cancers, cardiovascular diseases and chronic respiratory conditions, imposing enormous costs on families, the health system and the wider economy.
Tobacco-related illnesses claim about 26,800 Nigerians lives annually, while also imposing significant economic costs through healthcare expenditure and lost productivity. Countries which fail to protect their citizens suffer far worse consequences.
Globally, tobacco kills over 7 million people each year, including over 1.6 million non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke. All forms of tobacco use are harmful, and there is no safe level of exposure. Nicotine is highly addictive and harmful, particularly for children, adolescents and young adults whose brains are still developing.
Against this backdrop, N9.2 million is barely enough to keep a national response alive, let alone strengthen it.
If Nigeria is indeed serious about wanting a stronger, modern tobacco regulation that protects its citizens and keeps the tobacco and nicotine poison at bay, N300m is the starting point for tobacco control.
Egbe, a tobacco control advocate, and Media & Communications Officer at CAPPA, writes from Lagos.