Existing laws should be enforced
The 2026 edition of the World No Tobacco Day was marked yesterday with the theme, “Unmasking the appeal – countering nicotine and tobacco addiction.” For Nigeria, it was a reminder that legislation without enforcement means nothing. Ten years ago, Nigeria was still struggling to enact comprehensive tobacco control legislation despite ratifying the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) in 2005. The breakthrough finally came on 27 May 2015, with the National Tobacco Control Act, followed by implementing regulations in 2019.
These laws represent significant progress: they prohibit smoking in public places, ban tobacco advertising and sponsorship, restrict sales to minors, prohibit single-stick cigarette sales, mandate graphic health warnings, and establish safeguards against tobacco industry interference in public policy. More recently, Nigeria developed its first National Tobacco Control Enforcement Plan designed to strengthen coordination among the Federal Ministry of Health, NAFDAC, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Customs, and law enforcement agencies. On paper, the architecture for tobacco control is impressive.
