Dr Mangai Malau, Head, Tobacco Control Unit, Noncommunicable
Disease Division, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health disclosed this on
Tuesday.
Malau spoke at the National Tobacco Control Budget Advocates
Meeting in Abuja where he presented a paper titled “Overview of Tobacco Control
Funding/Budgeting in Nigeria: Why Tobacco Control Budgeting and Funding?
He noted that funding for tobacco control must come majorly
from taxation and there is also need for relevant stakeholders to apply tax measures
rightly if they are to address the issues of tobacco control in the country.
“In effectively controlling tobacco and tobacco products in
Nigeria, funding is a critical component. The WHO Framework Convention on
Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) recognises this and clearly stipulates in Article
26.
“It states that parties shall provide financial support in
respect of its national activities intended to achieve the objective of the
Convention, in accordance with its national plans, priorities and programmes.
“It is also important to state that funding is a major
provision of the National Tobacco Control (NTC) Act.
“Section eight of the Act, provides for the Tobacco Control
Fund, which shall be used to fund tobacco control activities programmes and
projects,” Malau said.
According to him, the meeting is therefore important as it
will seek for better funding for tobacco control, in order for Nigeria to meet
the objectives of the WHO FCTC and the NTC Act.
He said, “Tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke is a leading
cause of mortality, morbidity, disability and impoverishment in the world.
“It is the greatest risk factor for non-communicable
diseases like hypertension, stroke, cancers, diabetes and chronic obstructive
pulmonary diseases.
According to him, WHO said: “tobacco causes more than eight
million deaths annually around the world, with more than seven million of those
deaths as a result of direct tobacco use.
“And about 1.2 million resulting from non-smokers being
exposed to second-hand smoke.
He said that tobacco smoke contained over 7,000 chemicals,
of which hundreds were toxic and about 70 are known to cause cancer.
“Also, there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke
and even a brief exposure can be harmful to one’s health.
“Concerned about the threat from tobacco, Nigeria signed and
ratified the WHO FCTC, in 2004 and 2005 respectively. In 2015, the National Tobacco
Control (NTC) Act was enacted and its Regulations was passed in 2019,” he said.
In his remarks, the Chairman of Nigeria Tobacco Control
Alliance (NTCA), Mr Akinbode Oluwafemi, stressed the need for Civil Society
Organizations (CSOs) to advocate for more budgetary allocation for tobacco
control in the country.
Oluwafemi urged CSOs to begin the budgetary advocacy in July
when the government’s ministries, departments and agencies would commence the
2024 budgets presentation and defence.
According to him, it is also important that CSOs form
alliance while carrying out the advocacy. -NAN