The Federal Government on Tuesday indicated its plan to increase excise tax on tobacco products from 30% ad-valorem to 50% as part of sustained measures to discourage tobacco smoking in the country.
The Head of the Tobacco Control Unit, Noncommunicable Disease Division of the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Mangai Malau, made this disclosure at the National Tobacco Control Budget Advocates Meeting held in Abuja.
Malau, in his paper titled ‘Overview of Tobacco Control Funding/Budgeting in Nigeria: Why Tobacco Control Budgeting and Funding?’ delivered at the forum, disclosed that currently the tax rate on tobacco products stood at 30% tax but that plans were ongoing to increase the tax rate to 50% in compliance with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended standard.
The health experts maintained that the funding for tobacco control must come primarily from taxation and urged all relevant stakeholders to use tax measures in the collective drive towards tobacco control in the country.
He said: “In effectively controlling tobacco and tobacco products in Nigeria, funding is a critical component. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control recognises this and clearly stipulates it in Article 26.
“It states that parties shall provide financial support in respect of its national activities intended to achieve the objective of the Convention, in accordance with its national plans, priorities and programmes.
“It is also important to state that funding is a major provision of the National Tobacco Control Act. “Section eight of the Act provides for the Tobacco Control Fund, which shall be used to fund tobacco control activities programmes and projects”, Malau stressed.
Also, he pointed out that the meeting was convened to enable stakeholders parley on better funding for tobacco control in order for Nigeria to meet the objectives of the WHO FCTC and the NTC Act.
According to him, tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke is a leading cause of mortality, morbidity, disability and impoverishment in the world and the greatest risk factor for non-communicable diseases like hypertension, stroke, cancers, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.
This is even as he disclosed that the WHO research findings indicated that tobacco causes more than eight million deaths annually around the world, with more than seven million of those deaths as a result of direct tobacco use, and about 1.2 million resulting from non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.
In addition, Malau said that tobacco smoke contained over 7,000 chemicals, of which hundreds were toxic and about 70 are known to cause cancer.
He explained that it was based on the concern about the threat from tobacco that Nigeria signed and ratified the WHO FCTC, in 2004 and 2005 respectively and that in 2015, the National Tobacco Control Act was enacted while its Regulations were passed in 2019.’’
