Brightly coloured vapes, heated tobacco products, sweet-flavoured nicotine pouches packaged in sleek mint-tin-style containers that resemble cosmetic or confectionery products are quietly reshaping Nigeria’s nicotine landscape, drawing young people into addiction through products marketed as modern lifestyle accessories rather than harmful substances.
A new report by the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), title, ‘New Smoke Trap: New and Emerging Nicotine and Tobacco Products, Youth Exposure and Policy Gaps in Nigeria,’ warned that the tobacco industry is deliberately rebranding nicotine dependence as innovation, exploiting regulatory gaps and digital platforms to normalise use among Nigeria’s youthful population.
Delivering his welcome address at the launch of the report, Mr Akinbode Oluwafemi, the Executive Director of CAPPA, said “the tobacco industry recalibrated its strategy by diversifying its portfolio and rebranding addiction as innovation, introducing what it now describes as reduced-harm or next-generation alternatives and presenting them not as extensions of a lethal corporate legacy but as sophisticated lifestyle accessories aligned with modernity, technological progress, and personal choice.”
Oluwafemi also noted that the tobacco industry lures young Nigerians by advertising “nicotine pouches as ‘free of tobacco’ while emphasising that the nicotine is synthetic or laboratory-made, a framing designed to exploit definitional gaps in current regulations and to imply safety where none has been conclusively established.”
According to Zikora Ibeh, Assistant Executive Director at CAPPA, key findings from the study reveal that 781 nicotine and tobacco-related products were documented across Lagos, Enugu and the Federal Capital Territory between October and December 2025, with 573 classified as new and emerging nicotine and tobacco products such as e-cigarettes (vapes), nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products.
According to the research, e-cigarettes accounted for 522 of the products identified, making them the most dominant category. Nicotine pouches were found mainly on digital platforms such as Instagram, Jiji and Jumia, while heated tobacco products appeared in smaller numbers but were positioned as premium lifestyle items for affluent consumers.
Speaking on the importance of regulating emerging nicotine and tobacco products in compliance with global standards, Prof Lekan Ayo-Yusuf, Director, Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research, University of Pretoria, South Africa, explained that regulations must target the digital environment with key actions focusing on harm prevention rather than harm reduction.
He said, “globally, where marketing restrictions were delayed, especially online, youth uptake rose quickly and regulation became reactive rather than preventive. Protection must extend to digital environments, age verification must be meaningful not just symbolic, and product presentation must be assessed through a youth protection lens.”
Prof Ayo-Yusuf also emphasised the need to regulate nicotine and not just tobacco products.
Explaining the key recommendations of the report, Olamide Martins, Associate Director at CAPPA, shared that “authorities should extend regulatory oversight to all tobacco and nicotine products regardless of form, technology or delivery mechanism.
“Regulation must be anchored in the presence of nicotine as the active addictive substance rather than in whether a product contains tobacco leaf or produces smoke. This ensures that emerging devices cannot evade safeguards by exploiting definitional gaps.”
Martins, who noted that cross-cutting mandates among government institutions currently creates enforcement gaps that allow products to circulate between jurisdictions without consistent oversight, appealed that “government institutions responsible for health, trade, standards, taxation, customs and consumer protection should operate under a unified national framework for nicotine product regulation.”
On her part, Mary-Ann Etiebet, the CEO and President of Vital Strategies, a global public health organization, explained that Non-Communicable Diseases, such as cancer, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, are all caused by these ‘innocent-looking products’.
Etiebet mentioned that “these diseases were mostly occurring in wealthier and high-income nations in the Global North. Even now, 85% of the preventable and premature deaths are happening in low and middle-income countries. This is even before what the industry is doing to shift the consumption of these harmful products to the continent.
“We are witnessing the fastest growth rate in the consumption of these unhealthy products. It is concentrated in youths. It’s already causing more than 20,000 people to die a year. Significantly, over 200 billion Naira in healthcare costs and reduced worker productivity. NCDs already account for 29% of all deaths in Nigeria and we are likely to see this raised to above 50%by 2030 if current trends continue.”
The Vital Strategies’ President buttressed that “all nicotine products must be brought under public health regulatory oversight and the public health institutions that work in coordination with civil society, gaps that the industry is currently exploiting.
“Nigeria has the opportunity to act with the same clarity and provide leadership within Africa by prioritising health over industry interest.”