Health groups demand recall of Tobacco Control Amendment Bill

A coalition of civil society organisations, health advocates and public-interest groups have called for the immediate recall of the National Tobacco Control Act (Amendment) Bill 2025, warning that some of its provisions could weaken existing safeguards and expose young Nigerians to tobacco and nicotine products.

At a media briefing in Abuja, the groups said it had reviewed the consolidated bill and concluded that it could create new opportunities for tobacco and nicotine companies to expand their businesses at the expense of public health.

The Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, acknowledged the need to update the National Tobacco Control Act 2015 and its 2019 Regulations to address emerging products, adding that modernising the law should not create loopholes for products such as vapes, heated tobacco products and nicotine pouches.

Oluwafemi criticised provisions that could allow advertising of non-combustible tobacco and nicotine products through adult publications, point-of-sale materials and online platforms, as well as sponsorship of cultural, social and recreational events.

He expressed concern over the bill’s definition of an “adult publication” as one with at least 50 per cent adult readership, arguing that such a threshold could still expose children to tobacco and nicotine advertisements.

Speaking on behalf of the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance, Olawale Makanjuola opposed online sales and delivery of non-combustible tobacco products, adding that age verification could be circumvented.

Makanjuola also argued that Nigeria did not have the capacity to monitor all websites, social media sellers, courier companies and delivery services involved in such transactions.

He further criticised provisions that would allow the display of non-combustible products behind retail counters and reduce the minimum pack size for cigars from 20 to five. It said the changes could lower the cost barrier for young people experimenting with tobacco products.

On packaging, the group raised concerns over what it described as reduced health-warning requirements for novel nicotine products. It said the bill would allow vape liquids to carry text-only warnings covering no more than 30 per cent of the front packaging, while nicotine pouches would have warnings covering no more than 10 per cent.

The group said the controversial provisions were not contained in the earlier versions of the bill presented at a public hearing on November 22, 2024, and demanded to know who introduced the changes and which public-health institutions reviewed them.

It called on the National Assembly to immediately recall the consolidated bill and subject it to a transparent, public-health-led review. The coalition also urged the publication of committee reports, voting records and stakeholder submissions that informed the bill.

It further called on the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to publicly state its position on the bill and urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to assent to it if the draft reached his desk in its current form.

The coalition said Nigeria needed a strong and product-neutral tobacco control framework covering all tobacco and nicotine products. It maintained that advertising, sponsorship, sampling, retail display and remote sales of such products should remain prohibited.