Bauchi State Government has started taking measures to curb tabocco use and reduce its health and environmental consequences in the State by domesticating the National Tobacco Control Act in collaboration with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre.
This was revealed during a meeting on the development of the Bauchi State Tobacco Control Framework, where participants from relevant ministries, departments and agencies examined the need for a state law to regulate tobacco products.
The Bauchi State Commissioner for Housing and Environment, Danlami Kawule, represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Yamai Muhammad, assured participants of the state government’s commitment to the initiative.
“The Bala Mohammed administration remains committed to protecting both the environment and the health of citizens. We will support every necessary step towards the domestication of the tobacco control legislation in Bauchi State.” he assured.
In a remark, the Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, urged the state government to put in place a legal framework that would discourage unrestricted access to tobacco.
”Bauchi State should take proactive steps by domesticating the National Tobacco Control Act. A strong legal framework that will help regulate the sale and use of tobacco products and ultimately protect public health,” he said.
The CISLAC Technical officer, Solomon Adogum , while Presenting paper on tobacco control, cited figures from the World Health Organisation showing that tobacco use remains widespread in Nigeria despite increasing awareness of its dangers.
He described tobacco as one of the leading causes of preventable deaths globally, warning that it is a major risk factor for non-communicable di?seases.
“More than 85 per cent of lung cancer cases are linked to tobacco use. It is also associated with chronic respiratory diseases, heart attacks, stroke and cancers affecting the mouth, throat, oesophagus, pancreas and bladder.”
“More than 25,000 children between the ages of 10 and 14, alongside about 7.49 million adults aged 15 years and above, use tobacco daily in Nigeria. Over 7.08 million men and 402,600 women smoke cigarettes every day, while about 1.97 million people use smokeless tobacco. The country also records 28,876 tobacco-related deaths annually,” he said.
According to him, secondhand smoke is equally dangerous.
“Exposure to secondhand smoke is responsible for about 1.2 million premature deaths worldwide every year. It also increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory infections and asthma among children,” he said.
Veteran journalist and recipient of A.B.C Yola, Reporter of the Year Award (1997), Hassan Umar Shallpella, works with WAP as a Regional Correspondence. He was trained at Institute of Mass Communication and Technology Jos and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Training School Lagos.He was a News desk Editor and a Correspondent at the Punch newspaper and till 2019, was the Deputy Editor ofThe Scope newspaper.
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