Rendez-vous 143
November 20, 2002
about tobacco control in Nigeria
Eze is Attorney at law, Executive Director of PADDING, People against drug dependence and ignorance
Lagos, Nigeria
This rendez-vous took place during the 2002 national tobacco control conference in San Francisco. I want to thank the press service of the conference and the San Francisco Tobacco Free project that made it possible.
Thank you Eze for accepting our rendez-vous. May I ask you to introduce yourself?
Eze Eluchie: I am an attorney at law in Lagos, Nigeria. My involvement with tobacco control started after my office had been burglarized for the third time. On the last occurrence one of the burglars was arrested while reselling my typewriter for a very small amount of money: he was a drug addict and that started my interest into the questions of substance abuse.
That was in 1995/96. I got together with a few friends, professional people like me, attorneys, teachers and we decided to try to do something about this problem. That's when we created PADDING (People Against Drug Dependence and Ignorance).
Q1. What are PADDING's main activities?
Eze Eluchie: We try to develop public awareness via interventions in schools. We insist on the importance of tobacco as a gateway drug. That approach did not please the industry, very powerful in Nigeria. They invited us for meetings to try to influence us to focus more on research on substance abuse and not on tobacco but of course we refused.
Q2. Can you tell us about the legal framework concerning tobacco in Nigeria?
Eze Eluchie: It is basically limited to the existence of small health warnings on the packs. That's why we pushed for a new comprehensive bill. We succeeded in having the House of Representatives pass the bill we had prepared but when it went to the Senate, it disappeared! The 7 committee members in charge of the bill in the Senate were invited by BAT (the main player in Nigeria) to visit England and the USA. All expenses paid. Meanwhile the financial crisis in Nigeria is such that parliamentary staff cannot be paid. After this trip the bill was not to be seen again nor were we able to get a meeting with the senators. It was a complete turn around because earlier they had accepted to be part of events we were organizing, act as keynote speakers, etc. If -as we fear- the bill remains buried until the end of this parliamentary session, in March 2003, the approval of the House of Representatives will be lost and we'll have to start the process all over again.
Q3. Are the media interested in reporting about tobacco control issue and stories? What about the government?
Eze Eluchie: The mainstream media accept a lot of advertisng from the tobacco industry so it is not easy. We try to cultivate personal relationships with journalists but we don't obtain big articles. The government just lowered the taxes on cigarettes! The government's priority is to attract foreign investment. BAT negociated to invest $ 150 millions in Western Nigeria: a few months before their decision was officially confirmed the government lowered the taxes… The Health Department is concerned with many other issues like HIV/Aids. They provide no support, they are satisfied with the health warnings on the pack. Meanwhile tobacco advertising and promotions are everywhere.
Q4. Can you give us a few examples?
Eze Eluchie: Of course billboards are everywhere and cigarettes are very cheap, sold by the stick. One of BAT's most recent and successful promotion is named Experience Hollywood: they organize film showings and with your ticket you are given a pack of cigarettes. I tried to attend one such event with a camera but they refused to let me in with the camera. The industry is very involved with sport sponsoring, especially soccer that is very popular in Nigeria. FIFA's decision to prohibit tobacco ads in arenas and on the players shirts was only for the World cup. One strange thing is the omnipresence of advertising for Marlboro while nobody holds a distributing license for Marlboro in Nigeria. Who knows who pays for those billboards? The smugglers?
Q5. What are your next steps? What did attending the San Francisco conference bring to you?
Eze Eluchie: We'll keep focusing on legislation and look for opportunities for litigation.
We are inspired by the lawsuits filed in Uganda based on the constitutional right to health (see the forthcoming rendez-vous with Phillip Karugaba).
Attending the conference here brings me hope: we exchange informations with our friends in San Francisco and that is very valuable. We have started bulding a network with neighboring countries like Ghana, Zambia, whose legal system is very similar to ours. If you look back in history, 20 years ago the situation in California was very different but changes happened.
Q6. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Eze Eluchie: It is difficult now but it will not be difficult for ever!
Thank you Eze for taking the time to be with us today.
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