Abuja — On the heels of massive law suits filed against tobacco companies British American Tobacco and Philip Morris, the Nigerian government has announced its intention to ban smoking in public places in Nigeria's capital territory.
Government ministers in Abuja have also said they plan to issue new health regulations controlling tobacco products and prevent tobacco companies from entering the market in the future.
"By June, we are going to outlaw smoking in public buildings in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)," the minister for the territory, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, said last week. "Hopefully this will be the first step towards cleansing in the next couple of years, a total ban on smoking in the FCT." He was speaking at the launch of a new NGO-government collaboration, the Coalition Against Tobacco.
In addition, the health minister, Professor Adenike Grange, and the head of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Dora Akunyili, promised stricter regulations and an eventual end to the sale of all tobacco products across the country.
"Now that Nigerians are waking up from their slumber, cigarette producing factories should know that time is almost up for them," Professor Akunyili warned. "Just as cigarette manufacturers were chased out of Europe… the last [factory] will be closed in Nigeria in our lifetime."
Since Nigeria began its legal campaign against tobacco companies, a broad anti-smoking campaign has emerged. The Coalition Against Tobacco is just one of several NGOs hoping to reduce the production and sales of cigarettes.
Now the government is getting on board as well. Four Nigerian ministers, from the departments of health, sports, and the Federal Capital Territory, as well as two senators and other key government directors have expressed their commitment to a smoke-free Nigeria.
The campaign comes as smoking in Nigeria, as in much of the developing world, is soaring. Two decades ago, just three percent of Nigerians smoked. Lawyer Babatunde Irukera, who serves on Nigeria's legal team in the case against the tobacco companies, says that by 2002, 25 percent of the general population and 18 to 22 percent of the country's youth smoked, and the rate is rising by a fifth every year.
"Cigarettes are so cheap—they're cheaper than candy," he told IRIN news agency. "Each stick costs just two and a half naira" (about two cents).
Experts say there are other reasons smoking is on the rise. Professor Akunyili worries that tobacco companies shifted production and marketing to the developing world after litigation made operating in the West expensive and unpopular.
"They are taking advantage of our problem of unemployment," she said. "They claim that they have come to provide employment." British American Tobacco has a manufacturing plant in Ibadan, in Nigeria's Oyo state. Though the company does not release production figures, Dr. Modibbo says the company produced 93 million cigarettes a year, all of which were sold within Nigeria.
Advocates also criticize the marketing strategies used by tobacco companies. Onaolapo Olatoyosi, coordinator of the Coalition Against Tobacco, accuses the companies of advertising in a way that appeals to teens, of inviting youth to promotional campaigns and of giving them "starters"—cigarettes with a higher concentration of nicotine than the regular products.
The Federal Government's legal team says it has evidence to prove such malpractices. "There are a lot of red flags," Babatunde Irukera told IRIN. Evidence which the government will present in court will include tobacco company documents on smoking trends in Nigeria, marketing strategies for young and under-age smokers and cultural surveys determining geographic areas to target for sales.
Though there are laws and conventions regulating tobacco in Nigeria, implementation has been patchy at best.
In 2005 the government ratified the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which targets areas such as the labeling, distribution and sale of tobacco products. However, Ify Umenyi, director-general of the Consumer Protection Council, says certain tobacco companies have flaunted regulations, including a stipulation that health warnings must occupy at least a third of the space on the packaging of tobacco products.
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Now, Professor Grange says, "It is the determination of the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure the full domestication of the FCTC in Nigeria." Her Ministry is working on draft legislation to be proposed to the House of Assembly later this year. Likewise, the Coalition Against Tobacco has also suggested an enhanced legal framework regulating products and sales.
Nigeria also plans to continue its litigation against tobacco companies. "We will appeal all the way to the Supreme Court and back," Babatunde Irukera told IRIN. He hopes the government's team of 20 lawyers can win settlements of $42.2 billion on the federal level, and $30 billion spread among the four states filing suits.
The federal case was last week adjourned to March 17 so that one of the defendants, Philip Morris, could be served papers in Switzerland. As with cases filed in the United States, Babatunde Irukera suspects that more government involvement will improve the cases' chances of success.
