Nigerian tobacco control coalition rejects amendment bill, urges Tinubu to withhold assent

By Ojoma Akor

A coalition of over 100 civil society groups under the Nigeria Tobacco Control Community has rejected the consolidated National Tobacco Control Act (Amendment) Bill 2025 for its threats to public health.

The coalition also called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to assent to the bill.

Speaking during a news briefing organized by the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) in Abuja on Monday, they said the Bill does not protect Nigerians and instead weakens existing safeguards, creating a wide-open market for tobacco and nicotine companies to thrive at the expense of public health.

In a joint statement read by the executive director of the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Akinbode Oluwafemi, the CSOs called on the National Assembly to immediately recall the consolidated Bill and subject it to a transparent, public health-led review.

“Publish all committee reports, voting records, and stakeholder submissions, which led to the development of this anti-health bill,” they said.

They also called on the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to publicly clarify its position and demand the recall of the Bill if it was not properly consulted.

The coalition said, ” We agree that our primary law, the National Tobacco Control Act of 2015, alongside its 2019 Regulations, requires updating to address evolving markets. However, modernizing our legal framework must not mean rolling out a red carpet for new and emerging nicotine and tobacco products. We cannot protect public health by carving out weak rules and loopholes for vapes, heated tobacco products, and nicotine pouches. ”

The Nigeria Tobacco Control Community also said that while the amendment bill contains minor positive updates, such as Clause 5, which extends smoke-free zones within 30 meters of schools and health facilities, and Clause 3, which adds the Nigeria Police Force and Youth Development Ministry to the National Tobacco Control Committee, it said these provisions cannot excuse the far more reckless changes introduced throughout the text.

It said the Bill amends section 1 of the Principal Act by introducing a new paragraph (n), which inserts “tobacco harm reduction objectives” among the purposes of the Act, saying that at first hearing, this may sound progressive, but that, however, the phrase “harm reduction” has become an industry decoy for promoting new products and justifying lighter regulations for them. Marketing vapes and pouches as less harmful than traditional cigarettes does not make them safe, they said.

They said, “Across the world, public health professionals are already recording health complications associated with these products. True harm reduction means breaking addiction, not enabling multinational corporations to recruit a new generation of youth.

“Clause 16 alters section 45 of the Principal Act by defining heated tobacco products as noncombustible products and explicitly excluding non-combustible items from the legal definition of a tobacco product. This is a massive deception. Heated tobacco products contain real tobacco.

” Heating it instead of burning it does not remove its toxicity or addictiveness. In fact, the World Health Organization is clear that heated tobacco products are tobacco products and must be regulated as such. Reclassifying them will not only set a dangerous precedent across Africa but will also undermine Nigeria’s standing in the global public health community”

The coalition also said Clause 7 amends section 12 by introducing subsection (6). Section 12(1) of the NTC Act 2015 currently prohibits tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

It said the proposed subsection reverses this protection for non-combustible products by permitting advertising through “adult publications,” point-of-sale materials and online platforms, as well as sponsorship of cultural, social and recreational events.

“Clause 16 of the amendment bill defines an “adult publication” as one whose readership is only 50 percent or more adults. This means that a publication could qualify as adult-oriented even if nearly half—or, at the minimum threshold, exactly half—of its readers are children. Tobacco and nicotine advertisements could therefore be placed in publications with substantial underage audiences while being presented as restricted to adults,” it said.

The CSOs added that the provision also raises a serious enforcement question. It further said the Bill also permits tobacco and nicotine companies to sponsor cultural, social and recreational events supposedly directed at adults, noting that in today’s hyper-digital environment, simply describing a concert or festival as “adults only” does not protect young people.

The groups highlighted that Nigeria also lacks the capacity to monitor every website, social media vendor, courier company, and delivery rider. The Bill therefore opens distribution channels that regulators will struggle to control.

In addition, they said Clause 9 allows non-combustible products to be displayed behind retail counters in shops that are not restricted to adults. It also amends section 15(5) to permit cigars to be sold in small packs of 5 rather than in intact packages of at least 20, thereby lowering the cost barrier to experimentation among young people.

The coalition added that Nigeria needs one strong, product-neutral framework for all tobacco and nicotine products, and that advertising, sponsorship, sampling, retail display, and remote sales must remain prohibited.

“We urge all Nigerians, public-health professionals, civil society organizations, young people, parents, the media and other stakeholders to rise and defend public health. We must not remain silent while commercial interests weaken safeguards designed to save lives and shield future generations from addiction and preventable diseases,” they said.

Olawale Makanjuola, Alliance Coordinator of the NTCA, said Nigeria records over 20,000 smoking-related deaths every year, and that N201 billion is spent on treatment costs.

He expressed concern about the country’s youthful population and the growing availability of novel nicotine products.

Makanjuola said the industry’s interests should never be put above the country’s public health and national security.

Michael Olaniyan, country coordinator of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), said the difference between harm reduction and harm elimination was critical, particularly for protecting young people.

He said, “Harm reduction is not harm elimination. What we are pushing for, what the National Tobacco Control Act 2015 is promoting, is harm elimination. We are saying children should not be exposed to harm of any size.