Group Advocates Establishment Of Tobacco Control Committee

The Civil Society Legisla
tive Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), an NGO, has urged the Federal Government to constitute a National Tobacco Control Committee to prevent smoking in public places.
The Senior Programme Officer with CISLAC, Mr Okeke Anya, made the call in Abuja recently at a news conference on the danger of tobacco smoking.
Anya said that the committee would ensure implementation of the National Tobacco Act signed into law in May, 2015, by the Federal Government.
According to Anya, it is nearly a year after the Act was signed into law and till date there is no constituted committee to hasten the implementation of the law.
“Tobacco consumption has remained a menace to public health in the country.
“Globally, tobacco consumption remains the leading cause of preventable deaths.
“The World Health Organisation (WHO) reveals that over six million people die annually from tobacco consumption and the possibility of getting eight million deaths by 2030, if nothing is done about it urgently,’’ he said.
The programme officer said these figures were alarming as they represented human lives.
“It is also needless to say no one is free from dangers of tobacco smoke as we are all exposed at one time or the other to second hand smoke which possesses equal consequences with the real smoker.
“It is in the light of this that we call for the provision of a designated smoking area in some indoor public places and work places,’’ he said.
He recalled that prior to the ratification of the WHO framework convention on tobacco control, Nigeria only had a weak and poorly implemented tobacco control policies.
Anya said that regulating tobacco remained clearly a public health concern and the campaign should be spearheaded by the Federal Government.
According to him, the CSOs neither have the required resources nor mandate to take on the mountainous challenge.