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Tag: Tobacco Control Fund

  • NTCA, CAPPA lament insufficient N13m Tobacco Control Fund

    NTCA, CAPPA lament insufficient N13m Tobacco Control Fund

    The Nigerian Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) and the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) have criticized the N13 million national budget for tobacco control in 2025, describing it as grossly inadequate.  

    Urging the federal government to substantially increase the Tobacco Control Fund (TCF), the groups argued that, in the interest of public health, the budget should be raised to at least N300 million.  

    They emphasized that tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease, killing half of its regular users. 

    Citing government records, they noted that no fewer than 26,800 Nigerians die annually from tobacco-related illnesses, including cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and stroke.

    Tobacco-related illnesses, they noted, often lead to catastrophic health expenditures, particularly for low-income families, trapping them in a cycle of poverty while tobacco cultivation consumes vast swaths of land that could otherwise support sustainable food production.  

    They further emphasized that tobacco production depletes essential resources such as land and water, diverting them from agriculture, while trillions of discarded plastic cigarette butts pollute ecosystems, causing further environmental harm.  

    Even more concerning, they warned, is the tobacco industry’s growing boldness in circumventing national regulations and laws, even as they lamented that despite years of sustained advocacy pushing the industry into the shadows, the industry players continue to leverage its vast financial resources to promote products linked to death and disease.  

    They also expressed alarm over the industry’s persistent efforts to undermine public health initiatives, noting that it aggressively targets youth through marketing, lobbies against tobacco control policies, and attempts to position itself as part of the solution to the very crisis it created.

    While acknowledging the government’s increase in the Tobacco Control Fund allocation from N4.7 million in 2023 to N10 million in 2024 and N13 million in 2025, the advocates lamented that the funding remains vastly inadequate for effectively implementing the National Tobacco Control Act 2015 and protecting Nigerians from the widespread harms of tobacco use.

    Established under Section 8 of the NTC Act, 2015 and managed by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the fund is financed through budget allocations, fines, and contributions from development bodies. 

    Emphasizing tobacco as a leading cause of preventable deaths, the advocates stressed that tackling it requires substantial funding and full implementation of the TCF.

    At a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, Akinbode Oluwafemi, CAPPA’s Executive Director, said: “We urge the government to prioritize the Tobacco Control Fund, increase the allocation to at least N300million as an urgent measure to stop the tobacco industry from causing more damage. The lives of Nigerians are at stake.

    “While the government drags its feet on adequate allocation to the Tobacco Control Fund, the tobacco industry is relentlessly lobbying the public to embrace newer, stylish kinds of harmful tobacco products and other so-called smokeless nicotine-filled products that it falsely presents as ‘less harmful’ or ‘safer’ than traditional tobacco use.

    “These alternative nicotine products, including vapes, also known as electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), heated tobacco products (HTPs), snus, and oral nicotine pouches, among others, are targeted at our teeming, impressionable youth population which the industry sees as a potential replacement for the thousands of others who die or whose lives are destroyed by tobacco use”.

    Olawale Makanjuola, NTCA Coordinator, stressed the need for transparency in administering the TCF, warning that increased budget allocations without proper utilization would be futile. 

    He urged the Federal Ministry of Health to comply with the law by remitting all funds to the TCF account and providing regular updates on its balance and expenditures.  

    Michael Olaniyan, Country Coordinator for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, warned that Nigeria’s failure to fund tobacco control costs lives, fuels youth addiction and burdens the health system.

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    While supporting the urgent call for substantial budgetary allocations to the TCF, NTCA and CAPPA emphasized that inadequate funding hampers awareness campaigns, enforcement, and industry regulation, allowing tobacco companies to exploit weak monitoring systems. 

    The advocates warned that relying on donor funding is unsustainable and urged the government to take responsibility for protecting public health by fully operationalizing and significantly increasing the TCF.

    They urged the Federal Government to strengthen enforcement, particularly in licensing manufacturers, importers, and vendors as stipulated in the Tobacco Act. 

    While acknowledging that licensing fees are minimal, they stressed that effective enforcement would generate resources for the government to fund the Tobacco Control Fund before seeking support from stakeholders and donors.  

    Additionally, they called for the removal of barriers preventing the National Tobacco Control Committee (NATOCC) and the Tobacco Control Unit (TCU) from accessing the Fund, ensuring they can effectively fulfill their mandates.

  • The problem with N10m Tobacco Control Fund

    The problem with N10m Tobacco Control Fund

    SIR: The federal government’s Budget 2024 doubled the Tobacco Control Fund (TCF) from N4.7 million of the previous year to N10 million, heeding long-standing stakeholder calls for increased funding.

     This aligns with Section 8 of the Nigeria Tobacco Control Act (NTCA), 2015, which stipulates funding for the National Tobacco Control Committee (NTCC) and Tobacco Control Unit (TCU) to carry out their obligations. This fund, drawn from various government revenues, supports the work of relevant government institutions in health promotion initiatives, tobacco control programs, and enforcement activities to ensure compliance with set laws and regulations.

    By outlining a dedicated fund for tobacco control in the NTCA, the federal government indicated that it appreciated the necessity and capacity of such measures to facilitate the security of public health.

    Nonetheless, the journey towards operationalizing the fund has been fraught with challenges and protracted, with the current allocation being very modest. To be clear, the budget increase to N10 million, though a step in the right direction, still falls short of the broad spectrum of tasks and necessary financial resources required for the tobacco control committee to discharge its responsibilities effectively. 

    For instance, the committee is expected to meet at least four times annually, as stated in the NTCA. Yet, last year, the committee noted that convening even a single meeting alone costs a minimum of N4 million. The figure does not include expenditure for other essential activities such as the coordination of public health campaigns, population-wide cessation and anti-smoking programs, and collaborations with a variety of stakeholders among other initiatives.

     The NTCA, in another case, is expected to work with the Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant agencies on alternative cropping for tobacco farmers. Such a transition would require ongoing trainings, distribution of substitute seedlings, and potentially, the provision of even soft loans to aid farmers make the switch.  Evidently, N10 million is nowhere adequate for the gamut of interventions and programming essential for robust tobacco control in the country.

     This paucity of funds also indirectly facilitates the tobacco industry’s strategy of utilizing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, to market its brand and cultivate harmful relationships with state authorities and strategic institutions in society.

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     By forming partnerships with government bodies, youth-focused agencies, and tertiary institutions to undertake ‘‘socially responsible’’ initiatives such as organizing farm fairs and agribusiness trainings for farmers and young school graduates, tobacco corporations not only position themselves as benefactors but also subtly promote their brands and earn public endorsements for it.  This scheming not only sidesteps Nigeria’s tobacco control laws but also raises conflict of interest concerns, all of which undermines efforts to regulate tobacco consumption. 

    As tobacco corporations tirelessly seek to circumvent national regulations and laws, their substantial financial resources significantly aid them. Only last November, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) fined British American Tobacco Nigeria Limited (BATN) and its affiliates an unprecedented $110 million for violating national tobacco control regulations, among other laws. The fine was one of the highest in Nigerian quasi-judicial history, with the FCCPC granting them grace period of a few years to liquidate the penalty. But just days after the announcement of the fine, BATN issued a statement saying it had paid up, reflecting the deep pockets of the organisation.

    Up against a public enemy as the tobacco industry with deep pockets, the case for an improved tobacco control funding to fortify public health is made even more urgent. As the leading preventable cause of deaths and diseases, tobacco kills half of its regular users. In fact, by the federal government’s own records, no fewer than 26,800 persons die in Nigeria each year from tobacco or tobacco-linked diseases. Yet, the ‘‘casualties are not only those who are dead”, to borrow the words of the late Nigerian poet and playwright, John Pepper Clark.

     Tobacco control is not merely a health issue but also an economic and environmental concern. The costs associated with treating tobacco-related diseases, environmental clean-up, and loss of productivity due to illness and premature deaths run into billions of naira annually. A robust tobacco control strategy, backed by substantial financial resources, can mitigate these burdens, and safeguard the well-being of Nigerians.

    On this note, the federal government must recognize the urgency of increasing its allocation to the tobacco control fund in the next budget cycle commensurate with the scale of the problem. This would be a significant step towards empowering relevant agencies to wage powerful campaigns and interventions against tobacco consumption. This investment in public health will yield dividends in the form of reduced healthcare costs, a healthier population and workforce, and a cleaner environment for future generations.

    • Robert Egbe, regbe@cappaafrica.org