The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) and the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance on Wednesday called on the Federal Ministry of Health, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria and all relevant law enforcement agencies in the country to support the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) in speedily enforcing the graphic health warnings policy on tobacco products.
The groups said recent monitoring exercises they carried out in 13 states of the federation shows that the level of non-compliance of tobacco manufacturers to the policy is a little above average and not across all their product chain.
For instance, the monitoring exercises showed that while there was about 60 per cent compliance among cigarette manufacturers, 95 per cent of dealers on snuff have not complied with the regulation at all.
Executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi called on the Ministry of Health, Police, Nigeria Securities and Civil Defence Corps, (NSCDC) and other relevant security agencies to intensify enforcement of the new regulation.
Oluwafemi, who spoke in company of Michael Olaniyan, Technical Resource Officer, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, (CTFK), Nwokorie Chibuikem, Nigerian Tobacco Control Alliance Project Officer, and Hilda Ochefu, Sub-Regional Coordinator for West Africa, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, also emphasized the need for taking the campaign and enforcement to the 36 states of the federation.
