Up Tobacco Control Budget to Curb Rising Youth-Targeted Campaign - CAPPA Urges FG

A nonprofit organization – Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, has renewed its call for a significant increase in the funding for tobacco control intervention. CAPPA urged the Federal Government to raise the annual tobacco control allocation to at least N300 million, with sustained increases in subsequent budgets. The group observes that Nigeria’s current budgetary allocation for tobacco control remains grossly inadequate to address the growing public health threat posed by tobacco and emerging nicotine products. It noted that current funding levels fall far short of what is required to effectively implement the National Tobacco Control Act (NTCA) 2015. CAPPA made the observations in a statement over the weekend, and signed by its Media and Communications Officer, ROBERT EGBE. The statement comes on the heels of its “New Smoke Trap: New and Emerging Nicotine and Tobacco Products, Youth Exposure and Policy Gaps in Nigeria,” report, highlighting how international tobacco and allied companies are exploiting policy gaps to flood the Nigerian market with highly addictive novel products such as electronic cigarettes, vapes, and other smokeless nicotine devices, targeted at young Nigerians. CAPPA’s Executive Director, AKINBODE OLUWAFEMI, reasoned that the rapid spread of these products, combined with weak enforcement and limited funding, poses a serious public health risk. “We are dealing with a fast-changing nicotine market that is clearly targeting young people. Without adequate funding for regulation, enforcement and public education, the country risks a new wave of addiction,” he said. According to the statement, tobacco use remains a leading cause of preventable death in Nigeria, responsible for nearly 30,000 deaths annually. Citing data from the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA), the nongovernmental organisation (NGO) warned of the economic burden of tobacco and nicotine, saying Nigerians spent over N526 billion treating tobacco-related diseases in 2019 alone. CAPPA lamented that despite these costs, Nigeria continues to underfund tobacco control efforts, limiting critical activities such as public awareness campaigns, enforcement of smoke-free regulations, monitoring of industry practices, enforcement of existing regulations, and research into emerging trends. The organisation stressed that the Tobacco Control Fund (TCF), established under the NTCA to support these efforts, has yet to be fully operationalised and remains under-resourced. “The Tobacco Control Fund was designed as a sustainable financing mechanism to protect Nigerians from the harms of tobacco. But without adequate budgetary allocation and full operationalisation, it cannot deliver on its mandate,” Oluwafemi added. CAPPA emphasised that increased investment would enable key bodies, including the National Tobacco Control Committee (NATOCC) and the Tobacco Control Unit in the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, to carry out their statutory responsibilities, including nationwide sensitisation campaigns, compliance monitoring, enforcement of advertising bans, and prosecution of violations. The group also emphasised the need for sustained investment in alternative livelihoods for tobacco farmers, noting that transitioning to safer and more sustainable crops requires technical support, training, and financial backing. Drawing from its new report, CAPPA warned that tobacco companies are intensifying their marketing efforts on digital platforms, using influencers, lifestyle branding, and misleading harm-reduction claims to attract young users. “This is a deliberate strategy to recruit new users and replace those lost to tobacco-related diseases. Government must respond by strengthening regulation and backing it with adequate funding required for enforcement,” Oluwafemi said. In addition to increased budgetary allocation, CAPPA reiterated its call for stronger fiscal and regulatory measures, including raising tobacco taxes to at least 100 percent and ring-fencing a portion of the revenue for public health interventions and tobacco control programmes. It urged policymakers to treat tobacco control as a public health priority, warning that failure to act decisively will continue to strain Nigeria’s health system, deepen poverty, and expose millions, especially young people, to preventable diseases. “Investing in tobacco control will save lives, reduce healthcare costs and protect the next generation from addiction,” Oluwafemi added.