Tobacco control in Nigeria- policy recommendations
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Open Access
Tobacco control in Nigeria- policy recommendations Israel Agaku1*, Adisa Akinyele2 and Akinbode Oluwafemi1
Abstract Major strides towards national tobacco control have been made since Nigeria became signatory to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in June 2004. The Nigerian senate passed a bill on March 15, 2011 which is expected to be signed into law shortly, to regulate and control production, manufacture, sale, advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco or tobacco products. This paper highlights how the proposed tobacco control law provides a unique opportunity to domesticate the WHO FCTC, expand on smokeless tobacco regulation and develop a science base to improve tobacco control measures in Nigeria. Keywords: Policy, Cigarettes, Tobacco, Smokeless, Bans, Product appeal
Letter to the editor On March 15, 2011, the Nigerian Senate passed a bill which is expected to be signed into law shortly, to regulate and control production, manufacture, sale, advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco or tobacco products [1]. This proposed law represents a positive step towards addressing the problem of tobacco in Nigeria and reducing all forms of tobacco related disease. It also provides a unique opportunity to domesticate the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The essential components of the bill include; A National Tobacco Control Committee to guide implementation and future tobacco control policies; a comprehensive ban of smoking in public places; clearly visible tax stamps on cigarette packs; bans on sales to minors and by minors; a comprehensive ban on advertising, sponsorship, and promotion; and health warnings covering 50 percent of the display area of tobacco packages with the Ministry of health empowered to prescribe pictures or pictograms and enforce provisions. A significant policy gap though is the failure of the bill to address the problem of smokeless tobacco. Experience from developed countries has shown that policies specific to smokeless tobacco must be developed and implemented to ensure successful tobacco control. The
Euromonitor has predicted a 7% growth in volume for cigarette from 2010–2015 and an astounding 77% growth for smokeless tobacco for Nigeria [2,3]. Smokeless tobacco marketing and use in Nigeria has evolved significantly in the past few years. A major development in 2010 was the introduction of ‘Zip’; a Swedish-style snus by a JTI subsidiary- West African Tobacco (Figure 1).This is now marketed in two variants: the standard Zip and the mentholated Zip Cool which aims to tap into the preference in Nigeria for mentholated tobacco products. Its sales in 2010 were estimated at 12 tons valued at NGN 0.1 billion (approx. $634,328) [3]. Distribution of smokeless tobacco products is still in a nascent stage and is mostly through independent small grocers, which are largely kiosks that sell a range of food, drinks, and tobacco items, and has not widened to include other channels such as supermarkets. These new smoke
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