Kano State government has joined Lagos State to initiate a legal action against tobacco companies in Nigeria.
Source: This Day
Nigeria: Govt Files Anti-Tobacco Suit - This Day (Lagos)
14 May 2007
Davidson Iriekpen
Lagos
As part of its attempt to control tobacco use by young people and to ensure that its producers are held accountable for injury, Kano State government has joined Lagos State to initiate a legal action against tobacco companies, which may signify the beginning of the much needed tobacco control in Nigeria.
In an action filed by the Attorney-General of Kano State against British American Tobacco (Nigeria) Limited, International Tobacco Limited, British American Tobacco Plc, British American Tobacco (Investment) Limited, Philips Morris International and the Tobacco Institute, Kano State government seeks to recover health-care costs expended by it in treating tobacco-related diseases.
With this action which seeks a total of N1.6trillion as damages made up of restitution, compensatory and punitive damages and disgorgement of profit illegally and fraudulently obtained, the state has joined the several states of the United States, Lagos and other countries who have demanded that tobacco companies take responsibility for the injury and damage they continually perpetuate through marketing, sales and distribution of their products.
The main objective of Kano State in the action is to restrict distribution and access of tobacco products to young and under-aged persons.
The AG alleges that the tobacco companies and their cohorts for over half a century, and particularly recently in Nigeria, targeted young people inappropriately.
He states that this careful, focused and illicitly professionally done targeting, is yielding significant results that ensure their incredible profitability, and would be accountable for an impending health epidemic that would outstrip the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Kano State.
"Internal documents of the tobacco companies uncovered their deliberate but carefully concealed plan to target and recruit minors, and ensure they are addicted to smoking throughout their lifetime, as a result of the nicotine which is manipulated and delivered in a manner to sustain addiction," he stated.
Other allegations made in the Statement of Claim include, continuation of a local and international conspiracy to, conceal the true deleterious and hazardous nature of tobacco smoking from the public and health authorities, the truth about passive smoking or side stream smoke or Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS), suppression of the development of safer cigarettes; and manipulation of the addictive and narcotic drug, nicotine in cigarettes to sustain addiction.
The case uncovers what has been the tobacco companies understanding and strategy of ensuring that the health warnings are inadequate by promoting sale of their products by the stick, which is what the vast majority of Kano residents purchase. This way, they ensure they continue to impoverish the citizens, while causing harm to them.
Also the government claims that since these warnings are only written in English, they are ineffective and not understood by most consumers in Kano, while the tobacco companies have surreptitiously advertised and publicised their products in both language and culture that is clearly understood while omitting to do the same in terms of the mandatory health warnings.
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