Speech by Akinbode Oluwafemi, deputy director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) at a press briefing to alert on tobacco industry attempts to undermine tobacco control regulations on May 4, 2017.
Let me start this interaction by extending to you on behalf of the tobacco control community, a most heartfelt welcome and our honest appreciation for your dependability anytime we call on you. We cannot stop commending your consistency in informing the public, acting as society watchdog, and timely reporting of issues that bother on our individual and collective well-being.
On our part, we also cannot stop talking about the menace of tobacco which continues to claim lives at an alarming rate globally and worse, the strategies the tobacco industry employs to undermine tobacco control policies. Just like they have attempted to derail regulations in Kenya, Uruguay and elsewhere, they are at it here in Nigeria and are laying the groundwork to a major subversion of policy. How does the industry do this? They do it by
• coercing government officials to advocate on their behalf,
• interfering in policy making through trade committees and third parties, and
• aggressively lobbying and bribing policymakers.
As we speak today, there is an aggressive attempt to derail the implementation of the National Tobacco Control Act which was signed into law by former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 and now nearing implementation as the Ministry of Health fashions regulations for its implementation.
The first attempt to thwart the implementation of the policy was a public notice by tobacco industry front group – Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (IPPA) casting doubt on the integrity of members of the National Tobacco Control Committee (NATOCC). The role of the NATOCC which boasts credible individuals determined to ensure Nigeria implements the tobacco law to the last detail, is advisory. Having found its membership untainted, the tobacco industry tried to sell the public a dummy by insinuating that the NATOCC members were funded agents of international donor agencies and NGOs.
The Honourable Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Folorunso Adewole had to debunk this lie crafted in the inner recesses of the board rooms of the tobacco industry and reiterate his confidence in his team. Now the tobacco industry is at it again. Our findings are below:
A SUSPICIOUS AMENDMENT TOBACCO BILL
We have learnt of a very suspicious Bill to Amend The National Tobacco Control Act 2015 sponsored by Honourable Dickson Tarkighir representing Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency in the Federal House of Representatives. Among others, the Bill seeks to vest the implementation of the NTC Act with the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and as anticipated, has the full support of the tobacco industry.
This should not come as a surprise to you. As we noted in the process running up to the passing of the NTC Act, the tobacco industry will stop at nothing to upturn efforts already in place to ensure effective tobacco control policies in this country. The NTC Act, we wish to state, has the potential to save millions of our citizens from tobacco-induced illnesses and deaths and put Nigeria on the map of nations that have effective tobacco control policies in place.
The suspicious Bill removes all powers of the Minister of Health and vests same with the Director General, of the National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), putting Tobacco Control absolutely under NAFDAC. It also vests full administration of the NTC Act in the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Dubiously, the new bill deleted Sections 2,3, 4 and 6, of the NTC Act, which established the National Tobacco Control Committee (NATOCC) and seeks to create a National Tobacco Control Directorate under NAFDAC
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Section 7 of the NTC Act is amended to change Tobacco Control Unit (TCU) to National Tobacco Control Unit (NTCU) under NAFDAC.
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Section 8 (1) of the NTC Act is amended to place the Tobacco Control Fund under NAFDAC.
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Section 39 (2) is deleted: This is the requirement for National Assembly’s approval for Regulations before passage. This will mean that the Director General of NAFDAC can issue Regulationswithout going to the National Assembly for approval.
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There are substitutions in the existing Act, such as: Committee (NATOCC) will be replaced by a National Tobacco Control Directorate under NAFDAC; Ministry of health will be replaced by NAFDAC; while the Minister will be replaced by Director-General of NAFDAC.
MOLE IN THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE?
The tobacco industry is also advancing on another front by planting moles in ministries of government that have anything to do with tobacco control policy. It may interest you to know that we learnt of the recent leak of a confidential document relating to the implementing guidelines and regulations for the NTC Act at the Ministry of Justice.
This alleged breach in form of the smuggling of a supposed confidential document to one of the leading tobacco corporations in the country, is a sad reminder that an official from the same ministry who was on the delegation of the Nigerian government to the seventh session of the Conference of Parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in November 2016 advanced tobacco industry-laced arguments that shocked the world at the talks. It will be recalled that the representative of the ministry at the Treaty Talks advanced arguments criticizing Article 5.3 guidelines limiting Parties’ interaction with the tobacco industry, as well as Articles 9 and 10 which recommend measures to reduce the addictiveness of tobacco products.
Smuggling of official documents to non-government actors –individuals, corporations etc carry a heavy weight with the law. Worse is when such information is used to subvert the will of Nigerians who have overwhelmingly demanded measures to reduce tobacco addiction as enshrined in the provisions of the NTC Act.
In the light of the above we are immediately demanding that:
•The Nigerian government, particularly the Ministry of Health remain unintimidated as it works on resolutions for the effective implementation of the National Tobacco Control Act.
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The Ministry of Health hasten investigation of the controversial recommendations of some members of the Nigerian delegation to the Conference of Parties meeting held in India in November 2016. Delegates from the Ministry of Justice and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) are of particular interest in the said controversy which cast Nigeria in bad light among the committee of nations that attended the Talks
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The brain behind the alleged Ministry of Justice leaks be identified, investigated for ties with the tobacco industry and appropriately sanctioned
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Put in place a mechanism for insulating tobacco policies from tobacco industry interference
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Fast-tracking of the implementing guidelines and regulations for the NTC Act
As we have said, time and again, delay in the full implementation of the NTC Act will be exploited by the tobacco industry to begin a new onslaught on our nation and particularly our youth. The Nigerian government must be wary of the tobacco industry.
Delay is dangerous. The time for effective regulations is now!
