The Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), Initiative for Community Development and Advancement of Social Orientation (ICODASO), and the Cedars Refuge Foundation have urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to withhold assent to the National Tobacco Control Act (Amendment) Bill 2025, warning that the proposed changes could undermine Nigeria’s progress in tobacco control.
In a letter jointly signed by Philip Jakpor, Executive Director of RDI; Okeke Anya, Executive Director of ICODASO; and Peter Unekwu, Executive Director of Cedars Refuge Foundation, the CSOs said the proposed amendments would roll back gains made since the National Tobacco Control Act (NTC Act) 2015 and its Regulations came into force in 2019.
The groups described the proposed amendments as a “rude shock”, noting that Nigeria’s efforts to domesticate the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) took about a decade.
According to them, the existing NTC Act and Regulations largely conform to global tobacco-control standards, particularly in the areas of graphic health warnings on tobacco products, smoke-free public places, advertising restrictions, and restrictions on the sale of tobacco products to children.
The organisations also noted that Nigeria’s tobacco-control measures have received international recognition, citing the recent World Health Organization Director-General’s Special Award for the African Region presented to the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) for its regulation of tobacco and nicotine product depictions in movies, music videos, and skits.
They expressed concern that “the proposed amendments would relax existing restrictions on advertising and promotion, describing this as particularly troubling given that Nigeria received global recognition for its progress in this area in May 2026”.
The groups also questioned the rationale for provisions that would permit online marketing, point-of-sale displays, remote sales, and event sponsorships for non-combustible and alternative nicotine products.
They argued that the cumulative effect of such provisions could increase young Nigerians’ exposure to tobacco and nicotine products and potentially encourage smoking and addiction.
The organisations further raised concerns about the proposed recategorisation of “harm reduction”, which they described as an industry spin word. They said the amendment would remove certain non-combustible products, including nicotine pouches, vapes, and e-cigarettes, from principal tobacco definitions.
They drew the President’s attention to recent studies which, they said, indicate that non-combustible nicotine products are being used by the industry as a strategy to replace one form of addiction with another, with the ultimate objective of marketing nicotine addiction to young people.
The groups therefore called on President Tinubu not to assent to the Bill in its current form, particularly its public-health provisions.
Instead, they urged the President to insist that the National Assembly subject the proposed amendments to genuine and comprehensive public scrutiny before any further legislative action is taken.
They argued that “there is no time than now” to listen to Nigerians who, according to them, are united in the conviction that the amended provisions would weaken communities and expose the national economy to the consequences of premature deaths associated with tobacco and nicotine use.
They said the proposed amendments should be subjected to broader public consultation to ensure that Nigeria’s tobacco-control framework is not weakened in a manner that could reverse years of progress.
