With 18b cigarette sticks sold every year, only 5 in 100 Nigerians quit smoking – CISLAC

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has said that the highly addictive properties of nicotine and lack of appropriate help was largely responsible for why only five percent of smokers quit smoking in Nigeria.

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has said that the highly addictive properties of nicotine and lack of appropriate help was largely responsible for why only five percent of smokers quit smoking in Nigeria.

The Executive Director, CISLAC, Auwal  Musa Rafsanjani, said this on Monday in Abuja at a media briefing in commemoration of the 2021 World No Tobacco Day (WNTD).

The WNTD is an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) and is observed on May 31 every year to spread awareness about the dangers of tobacco and its negative impact on health, as well as the exploitation of the nicotine industry that is geared towards the youth and children in particular.

According to Rafsanjani, surveys have shown that although 80 percent of smokers would like to quit smoking, less than five percent are able to quit on their own due to the highly addictive properties of nicotine.

“This calls for clearly defined efforts to help smokers break the addiction to nicotine and quit smoking ultimately rather than relying on the ineffective approach of leaving smokers to quit on their own,” he said.

The CISLAC boss said that the 2021 WNTD theme, “Commit to Quit” makes a special plea to smokers worldwide to understand the risks associated with tobacco use and make informed decisions and commitment to quit the habit, and thereby ensuring better quality life.

“This year’s theme is particularly timely, as the world continues to struggle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as available research suggests smokers are at higher risk of developing severe diseases and death from COVID-19.

“Over 1.3 billion people in the world use tobacco, and over 80 percent of this population live in low-and-middle income countries where the burden of tobacco-related illness and death is very heavy.

“Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and has one of the leading tobacco markets with over 18 billion cigarettes  annually. WHO data accounts for an estimated 16,100 deaths arising from tobacco use annually in Nigeria.

“As we celebrate the WNTD today, CISLAC is calling on government at all levels in Nigeria to invest in promoting cessation, by developing evidence-based, cost effective strategies and guidelines, and allocating adequate resources for program’s implementation free counseling must be provided for those are eager to quit and also for those that quit. Mass communication initiatives that encourage quitting must be part of cessation programs,” Rafsanjani said.

He said that for optimal effect, governments must implement tobacco cessation programs as part of a comprehensive tobacco control approach with other demand-reduction tobacco control policies, notably higher tobacco taxes, smoke-free spaces, bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, large pictorial health warnings on tobacco packages, and anti-tobacco mass media campaigns.

On his part, Senior Program Officer, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Mr. Okeke Anya, said that ‘Commit to Quit’ is not only a call on smokers to ditch the habit, it is also a charge on government, health practitioners, the media, civil society and every stakeholder to commit to helping smokers quit.

“It is on this backdrop that the theme also highlights the importance of cessation programmes which have the ultimate objective of reducing demand for tobacco.

He also said that under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) cost effective measures for effective tobacco control known as the MPOWER has been highlighted

“Monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies; Protecting people from tobacco smoke; Offer help to quit tobacco; Warning about the dangers of tobacco; Enforcing bans on tobacco advertising; Promotion and sponsorship; and Raising taxes on tobacco.

“While Nigeria has put in place mechanisms for implementation of some of the FCTC measures, unfortunately, the measure of adopting cessation programmes designed to offer help for smokers to quit remains largely underutilized.

“As the country continues to delay on implementation of cessation programmes, the tobacco industry is already miles ahead in investing massively in strategies and technology aimed at initiating young people to their products as they are eager to flood Nigeria and the rest of Africa with new products like e-cigarettes, misleadingly brandishing them as quit aids and harm reduction products,” Anya said.