The Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research (ATIM) has urged the National Assembly to reconsider the proposed amendments to Nigeria’s National Tobacco Control Act 2015.
The Centre said the so-called “Tobacco Harm Reduction” provisions sought to be inserted in the Act endanger the country’s hard-fought tobacco control gains.
In a statement signed by Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA),on Sunday, ATIM backed the Nigerian tobacco control community’s rejection of the proposed changes.
The centre warned that the proposals could weaken the country’s tobacco control framework and create loopholes for the tobacco industry to addict Nigerians, especially the youth, with nicotine and other “so-called non-combustible products.
The organisation said the development was particularly concerning given Nigeria’s progress in reducing smoking prevalence and its obligations under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).
“Nigeria should be strengthening the measures that have helped reduce smoking, not creating new policy openings that could undermine those gains,” ATIM said.
According to the organisation, the amendment process was initially presented as an effort to strengthen implementation of the National Tobacco Control Act 2015, correct identified weaknesses and close loopholes affecting emerging tobacco and nicotine products.
However, ATIM noted that the harmonised Bill subsequently considered by the House of Representatives introduced “Tobacco Harm Reduction” among the objectives of the legislation and created separate provisions for non-combustible products, including electronic nicotine products and nicotine pouches.
It said the significant shift requires greater transparency and public scrutiny.
ATIM noted that adult smoking prevalence in Nigeria is now estimated at around 5–6 per cent, representing substantial progress compared with previous decades.
Rather than risk reversing this progress, it urged the Nigerian government to prioritise proven tobacco control measures, including comprehensive smoke-free environments, stronger taxation and health warnings.
The organisation also warned that emerging nicotine products could provide a new pathway to nicotine addiction, particularly among young people.
“Nothing prevents Nigeria from adopting evidence-based cessation or risk-reduction interventions where they are independently demonstrated to benefit population health,.
“But there is no need to embed a changing and contested commercial concept such as ‘Tobacco Harm Reduction’ as a statutory objective.”
ATIM said the National Assembly should also provide greater clarity on how the provisions relating to “Tobacco Harm Reduction” and non-combustible products came into the harmonised Bill.
It stressed that it had not established that the tobacco industry drafted or caused the insertion of the provisions, but argued that their source should be publicly explained given the growing commercial importance of new nicotine products to multinational tobacco companies.
The organisation called for disclosure of stakeholders who proposed the relevant provisions, submissions received during the legislative process, meetings held with tobacco and nicotine industry representatives or organisations representing their interests, and the evidence relied upon in developing the differentiated regulatory framework.
It stressed that such transparency was particularly important under Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC, which requires governments to protect tobacco control policies from the commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry.