By George Coben, Bauchi
The Executive Director, civil society legislative advocacy center(CISLAC), Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani has called on the Bauchi State government to expedite action on the domestication of the national tobacco control Act to discourage unrestricted access to tobacco products.
Rafsanjani made the call on Sunday at a stakeholders technical meeting on the development of the Bauchi State tobacco control framework.
During the meeting where participants were drawn from relevant MDAs, the ED noted that a robust legal framework would strenghten regulation of the production, sale, and consumption of tobacco while safeguarding public health.
The occasion kick-started initiation of collaboration between the Bauchi State government and CISLAC to enact a state tobacco control law for regulating the use of tobacco products toward safeguarding public health.
In a paper presented at the occasion, CISLAC technical officer, Solomon Adogum, said that tobacco use is a major public health concern in Nigeria despite growing awareness of its harmful effects.
Adogum stated that figures from the WHO show that more than 25,000 children aged between 10 and 14 years and about 7.49 million adults between the ages of 15 and above, use tobacco daily in Nigeria.
While saying that over 7.08 million of men and about 402,000 of women smoke cigarettes daily, he added that nearly 1.97 million Nigerians use smokeless tobacco, disclosing that tobacco-related illnesses are responsible for the death of about 28,876 lives, annually in the country.
“Tobacco is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths worldwide. It is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases,” Adogun explained.
The CISLAC officer further explained that over 85 percent of lung cancer cases are linked to tobacco use, adding that smoking also contributes immensely to chronic respiratory diseases, heart-attacks, strokes, and cancers affecting the mouth, throat, oesophagus, pancreas and bladder.
He warned that secondhand smoke poses serious health risks, stressing that exposure accounts for about 1.2 million premature deaths, globally, every year.
Adogum noted that passive smoking also increases risk of sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory infections and asthma, among children.
Bauchi State Commissioner for housing and environment, Danlami Ahmed Kawule, represented by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Alhaji Yamai Muhammad, reaffirmed government’s commitment to supporting the domestication of the tobacco control legislation.
“Government remains committed to protecting both the environment and the health of its citizens, and would provide the necessary support to ensure the successful implementation of the proposed law,” he further assured.
