Tobacco Control in Africa - TCA

Project on Tobacco Tax Advocacy Underway in Nigeria

The Civil Society Legislative Society Advocacy Center (CISLAC) is collaborating with Tax Justice Network Africa to create awareness on tobacco Tax Advocacy in Nigeria. The project is themed "supporting effective tobacco control through responsive tax  systems in Nigeria."

Links to the factsheets for the most recent GATS done by CDC in Africa

GATS Nigeria 2012

 

GATS Cameroon 2013

 

GATS Uganda 2013

 

GATS Kenya 2014

 

GATS Senegal 2015

 

GATS Ethiopia 2016

 

tobaccoctrl in Nigeria

The tobaccoctrl site is 'cool' but how effective is it. All our best wishes anyway.

Anti-homosexual bandwagon as a dangerous trend

From Nigeriavillagesquare.com this opinion by author Crispin Oduobuk about the recent law against homosexuals in Nigeria. Is it possible to care for tobacco control without caring for human rights?

Visit Tobacco Control Nigeria on Facebook

Pressing the Nigeria's Ministers to sign the tobacco control law with an active advocacy campaign on Facebook, plenty of pictures, a petition, but do they listen? I wonder to what extent the Gates Foundation that works extensively in Nigeria in other areas could not use this network to help advocate for this law? It would be in line (if I understand it correctly) with the new organization of the Foundation as described by Jeff Raikes in a recent interview with Tom Paulson: "It was an opportunity for us to drive a closer working relationship between the global health and global development activities. One way to explain this is by anecdote.

In December 2010, I was down south in Ethiopia in a primary health care center. The obvious health interventions offered at the clinic were posted on the wall. Some were the obvious ones like child immunization and support for HIV.

But they also posted about personal and environmental hygiene, about water and sanitation and nutrition. They even had a model garden outside.

I realized at that moment how important it was for us to reorganize in a way that pulled all of our programs together to support families (as opposed to isolated interventions). That was the driving force behind the reorganization."

Tobacco Control Journalism Fellowship in Nigeria funded by CTFK

Here is one announcement but where are the articles? Where is the beef? There are no details about the $ amount of each award and there is no mention (apparently) of any radio project while radio broadcast remains a dominant medium in Africa. Another copycat reprint of the press release that does not provide any additional information.

Additional grant ($67,942) for Nigeria

The Bllomber Initiative/CTFK allocated $67,942 to the Tobacco Control Foundation of Nigeria for advocacy for passage and presidential assent of the national tobacco control bill (NTCB) in Nigeria. This comes in supplement of previous 2013 grants.

Nigeria: $29,886 for implementing the prohibition of smoking in pulic places in Ekiti State

This one year grant awarded in July 2013, complements several previous grants by the Bloomberg Initiative.

Bloomberg Initiative: recent grants awarded

The Bloomberg Initiative has recently awarded the following grants: 6 months support for the Ghana advocates ($100,463), one year media initiative in Kenya ($73,659), one year grant for advocacy support in Nigeria ($170,380) and the Nigeria Adult Tobacco Survey ($12,000), 3 months grant for advocacy support in Senegal ($31,241) for a grand total of a little less than $400,000. Applications for the next round end July 26.

Nigeria: BAT's initiatives in "Corporate Social Responsibility"

Here, giving awards to promote agriculture.

Nigeria: Growing use of shisha/hookah

There is a growing use of shisha/hookah in Nigeria, including by celebrities apparently unaware of the health risks.

BAT Nigeria Foundation's activities in Edo State.

BAT Nigeria's foundation has given a building to a local community.

Interesting article about BAT's practices in South Africa and Nigeria

Browsing away I visited the excellent tobacco.org site and while searching for news about Africa I found this very interesting article by Ogala Emmanuel published on Premium Times. One part of the story is about the way BAT switches from traditional advertising (on billboards etc) to more subtle promotional practices, like offering cigarettes in many public places, "just so adult customers can test our brands". A classic move that is used globally and is more difficult to combat than illegal traditional ads and is probably more dangerous.

Nigeria: the Senate passes the Nigerian Tobacco Control Bill

As explained in this post from the Nigeria National Tobacco Control Bill Bog, the legislative process is not over: "As it is now, the bill has only been passed by the Senate. It is to be sent to the House of Representatives which will hopefully pass it before it goes to Goodluck Jonathan for his assent."

Nigeria: protest against the smoking parties organized by BAT, sign the petition launched by Corporate Accountability International

 From Meredith Slater, this post on Change.org explains BAT's strategy denounced by ERA. You can join the protest by signing the petition launched by Corporate Accountability International.

Photo Credit: Corporate Accountability International

Nigerian Tobacco Control Advocate Eze Eluchie calls for a boycott of the upcoming tobacco control conference in Dakar (sponsored by IDRC) if Barbara McDougall does not resign as Chair of IDRC

Eze Eluchie explains why he thinks tobacco control advocates should boycott the upcoming meeting in Dakar, sponsored by IDRC if Barbara McDougall (a Director of Imperial Tobacco Canada) remains as Chair  and member of the Board of IDRC. He calls for her immediate resignation.

In view of the conflict of interests occasioned by the presence of Ms. Barbara McDougall on the Board of Governors of IDRC at a time when the said IDRC is planning a meeting for African Tobacco Control advocates in collaboration with ATCA, I call upon Ms. Barbara McDougall to immediately resign her membership of the Board of Governors of the IDRC

Nigeria: the Bloomberg Initiative supports the campaign to pass a tobacco control Act

To facilitate passage of the National Tobacco Control bill through lobbying and advocacy strategies; to mobilize public support for passage of the National Tobacco Control Bill; to monitor tobacco industry activities, the Bloomberg Initiative grants #348,100 to FOE Nigeria and the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance.

Country: Nigeria
Website: tobaccoandyou, nigeria national tobacco control bill blog,  

Amount: $348,100   Start Date: Jan 2010    End Date: Dec 2011

Nigeria: Tobacco Control Forum in Abuja on September 27

A "Pan –African Tobacco Control Forum" is oganized during the 8th African Heart Network Conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja on September 27. See the detailed program below. 

Nigeria: Health minister, senators want ban on tobacco

Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin has described the economic argument for the production of tobacco in Nigeria as making nonsense of the risk it portends to the people.

Prof. Osotimehin, who stated this at an interactive dinner, organized by Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora in conjunction with Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria, to support the ‘National Tobacco Control Bill’, said the time has come for Nigeria to do everything possible to ban tobacco production in the country.

Source: article in the Daily Sun by AMOS DUNIA, reproduced in the Nigeria Tobacco Control Bill blog

Programmes antitabac financés par l'initiative Bloomberg en Afrique

Les montants des contrats passés sont maintenant mentionnés sur le site de CTFK.

Ils ont concerné (de 2007 à début 2009) 4 pays anglophones: le Nigéria, le Kenya, la Tanzanie, la Zambie et 3 pays francophones: le Burkina Faso, le Niger et le Tchad.

En 2009, deux projets au Kenya ont reçu globalement $361.750
En 2008 deux projets au Burkina Faso ont globalement reçu $192.452, un projet au Tchad $64,125, tandis que la coalition de Tanzanie a reçu  $310,062 et l'Association des consommateurs en Zambie $88,770 (total pour 2008: 566.649)
En 2007, SOS Tabagisme Niger a reçu $94,900 et un projet au Nigeria $627,690 (total pour 2007: 722.590)

Nigeria: a new blog full of information, the Nigeria National Tobacco Control Bill Blog

Hosted on blogspot this new blog titled the Nigeria National Tobacco Control Bill is full of interesting infos.

Akinbode Oluwafemi receives a Bloomberg Tobacco Control Award on behalf of Friends of the Earth Nigeria at the World Conference

FOE Nigeria received the $100K Award for its contribution to monitoring and fighting tobacco industry activities.

Source: ATCRI

Ghana: tobacco control meeting in Accra

An article about this meeting.
Source: Ghana News Agency

Nigeria: Senate Deputy Minority Leader Adeleke Mamora MD sponsors a tobacco control bill

This article from The Daily Sun.

Nigeria: National Tobacco Control Bill 2009 will prohibit advertising and promotion

The bill will prohibit the sale of tobacco products to minors under 18 and the sale by the sticks as well as advertising, sponsorhip and promotion. 
Source: thisdayonline

Nigeria: how to implement the smoking ban in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)

Comfort Onche explains the situation:

Despite the ban on smoking in public places in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), by the former FCT Minister, Aliyu Moddibo, some smokers still tend to smoke publicly in the streets, thereby defying the anti-smoking campaign.

Source: AllAfrica

Nigeria: Developing Web2.0 for women in Lagos

This program funded by IDRC.

Nigeria: Ruling On N366 Billion Suit Against Tobacco Firms for March 6

Ola Ajayi writes about the conclusions of the parties.  Babatunde Irukera, counsel to ERA said, "the suit is about an industry that is killing people and they must take responsibility."

Source: AllAfrica

Nigeria: BAT's CEO against the FCTC guidelines

'Strict Regulation May Encourage Illegal Tobacco Trade' according to British American Tobacco's Chief Executive, Paul Adams. He has warned that important efforts by governments to reduce the health impact of tobacco could go badly wrong and give illegal and often irresponsible traders and importers of tobacco an avenue to make money, while putting lives at extreme risk.
Source: AllAfrica

Projects supported by the Bloomberg Initiative in Africa (via Tobaccofreekids)

African projects supported by CTFK (as of January 14, 2008 from their site)

Projects are in Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia. The site does not provide details about when the grant was awarded nor how much.

Epidemiology of Tobacco Smoking in North East Nigeria

An interesting study directed by Desalu Olufemi published on the Internet Journal of Epidemiology.
More than a third of this study population smokes tobacco as cigarette or pipe. This is worrisome and is a great cause for concern because of its negative impact on the health of our population. The result from the Nigerian tobacco survey in 2002 is a gross underestimation of tobacco use. The problem of underestimation is an issue in most of developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia

The prevalence of male smoking was 45.3% while female was 18.4% giving a ratio of 3 to1, this is similar to many other studies,

Olanrewaju Onigbogi about the creation of the African Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI)

This interview was initially published in the blog Rendez-vous.

May I ask you to introduce yourself by telling us a little about your personal background (education, professional experience) and when, how and why you got involved in tobacco control?

Olanrewaju (Lanre) Onigboji: I am Olanrewaju Onigbogi. I have a medical background with postgraduate training in public health. I am currently the Director of the African Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI). I worked as a researcher and public health physician at the University College Hospital before I was appointed as ATCRI Director. The initiative is a multilateral effort to stem the emerging tobacco epidemic on the continent.

Nigeria: The Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI) is launched

The effort will seek to promote the adoption, implementation and enforcement of effective in-country tobacco control policies, legislation and programmes.
ATCRI is being supported by Cancer Research UK and American Cancer Society (ACS) and will be hosted by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN).
Source: This Day on line

Nigeria: Philip Morris rejects court papers served in Switzerland: $45 billion tobacco lawsuit adjourned to January

Government lawyer Dapo Akinoshun told a Federal High Court in Abuja that Swiss-based Philip Morris had rejected court papers sent on three occasions by courier. Efforts to publish the summons in a Swiss newspaper had also failed, he said.
Philip Morris could not immediately be reached for comment.
Source: Reuters

Nigeria: an opinion by Tayo Agunbiade about BAT, corporate social responsibility and tobacco control in Nigeria.

This interesting opinion by Tayo Agunbiade was published in This Day (Lagos).
Mrs. Tayo Agunbiade is a social development practitioner, radio presenter and weekly columnist with Thisday newspaper, one of Nigeria's leading national daily,
via AllAfrica.com

British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation funds solar panels to power water pump

The British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation takes corporate responsibility seriously.
Via All Africa .com

FCA organizes Africa Regional Strategy Workshop on Tobacco Control in Abuja

The Africa Regional Strategy Workshop on Tobacco Control organized by the Framework Convention Alliance in Abuja was declared open by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar.

Nigeria: teens sell cigarettes to survive

What alternative do they have?
The article was initially published in the Daily Trust (Abuja) but can be found on line via All Africa. com

Tobacco giant BAT 'breaks youth code' - BBC News

Bannatyne Takes on Big Tobacco on BBC 2  Channel Tue 1 Jul, 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm  60mins

Duncan Bannatyne, multi-millionaire and the scourge of Dragons' Den, journeys to Africa to explore the rise in the number of kids smoking, and the activities of one tobacco company in particular.

He uncovers evidence of the extraordinary marketing tactics of BAT which he believes are encouraging kids to smoke. His sharp business brain forensically gathers the evidence and then confronts the company back in London.

But this is not just a hard hitting investigation, this is an emotional journey for Bannatyne. An ex-smoker himself, he loves Africa and in his travels he has a laugh with a tobacco grower, is teased by the dinner ladies at a school in Malawi where he helps to cook the dinner and he has to deal with the cockroach in his hotel room. He also meets kids as young as 11 who are not only smoking ten a day, but also trying to make a living selling cigarettes.

Nigeria: When the industry fights back

The industry has found apparently independant people (here the "President of People’s Right To Truth in Public Communications, an NGO based )  willing to trump "personal responsibility" rather than lawsuits. A classic countermove.

Source: Punch

Kano State Files Suit Against The Tobacco Industry

Kano State government has joined Lagos State to initiate a legal action against tobacco companies in Nigeria.

Source: This Day

Akinbode Oluwafemi, Environmental Rights Action's Manager In Lagos, Nigeria

Source : Rendez-vous 165 - May 7, 2007
Thank you Bode for taking the time to answer my questions. May I ask you to introduce yourself?

Akinbode Oluwafemi: My name is Akinbode Oluwafemi. I am the Programme Manager of Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Nigeria's foremost environmental campaign group. For over seven years, I have been involved in tobacco control activities both at the national and international levels.

Q1. I just read about ERA filing a lawsuit with the Lagos State government against BAT, Philip Morris International and the Tobacco Institute for "negligence, public nuisance, liability, conspiracy to commit actionable wrongs" and asking for $21 billion in compensation.

Can you tell (a little) about the background of this initiative? How does an NGO links up with a State Government? Are there any precedents in Nigeria of such initiatives against big corporations? What gives you confidence that the lawsuit would achieve its end?

Source : Rendez-vous 165 - May 7, 2007
Thank you Bode for taking the time to answer my questions. May I ask you to introduce yourself?

Akinbode Oluwafemi: My name is Akinbode Oluwafemi. I am the Programme Manager of Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria, Nigeria's foremost environmental campaign group. For over seven years, I have been involved in tobacco control activities both at the national and international levels.

Q1. I just read about ERA filing a lawsuit with the Lagos State government against BAT, Philip Morris International and the Tobacco Institute for "negligence, public nuisance, liability, conspiracy to commit actionable wrongs" and asking for $21 billion in compensation.

A $21 billion lawsuit filed in Nigeria against BAT and Philip Morris

This sounds like an exciting lawsuit filed by ERA (Environmental Rights Action) and the Lagos State.

Source: The Guardian.

Promotion of Smoking... Nollywood’s Bad Example

Elsewhere in the United States, the agitation to stop smoking in movies was started by doctors about 25 years ago and the campaign is still on. Apart from violence, one seeming anti-social scene in Nigeria's popular home movie series, otherwise called Nollywood, is the spectre of smoking. Anti-tobacco activists say this is a negation of the law that bars tobacco firms from advertising. Godwin Haruna writes in This Day.