The 2025 Nigeria Tobacco Industry Interference (TII) Index has revealed that weak implementation of tobacco laws has continued to enable tobacco companies to influence governance in Nigeria.
The report also disclosed that tobacco companies use Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives as tools to access governance structures and position themselves as ‘saviour’ when their interest lies in undermining Nigerian’s health.
The report also shows Nigeria’s score worsening from 60 in 2023 to 62 in 2025, ranking the country 54th among 100 nations assessed globally.
In his address at the launch of the report, produced by Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Akinbode Oluwafemi, the Executive Director of CAPPA said the Index exposes how the tobacco industry exploits weak enforcement of Nigeria’s tobacco control laws to disguise itself as a partner in national development.
“Despite operating a business of addiction, disease, and death, tobacco companies continue to gain access – strategically and persistently – into Nigeria’s policy spaces,” he said.
Oluwafemi added that government officials attending and praising tobacco industry-funded events help the industry greenwash its deadly business. He described the industry’s growing participation in policy discussions as “deeply troubling,” especially regarding e-cigarettes, snus, and other emerging nicotine products marketed as harm reduction tools.
“The tobacco industry is not a stakeholder in public health. Its interest is in selling more cigarettes, more nicotine, and more death and disease.”
He also lamented the disturbing trend by tobacco companies using CSR to launder their images and stressed that tobacco companies cannot be partners in public health.
He said borehole donations, scholarships, and reforestation drives are not acts of generosity but “manipulation designed to whitewash an image built on addiction and profit.”
Presenting the findings of the report covering April 2023 to March 2025, CAPPA’s Assistant Executive Director, Zikora Ibeh, said the 2025 Index assessed seven key areas: policymaking participation, CSR, benefits to the industry, unnecessary interaction, transparency, conflict of interest, and preventive measures.
She explained that the worsening score, as captured by the report, reflects how “for every rule that should keep the industry out of policymaking, another action quietly lets it in.”
Ibeh explained that “at 62 points, Nigeria’s interference score is a wake-up call. It tells us that while our laws are strong, their guardianship is weak. It exposes a governance contradiction. The state legislates against tobacco influence but legitimises it through partnership and praise.
“The message of this year’s Index therefore is clear. There can be no middle ground between public health and corporate interest. To safeguard one, we must disentangle completely from the other.”
As highlighted in the report, CAPPA recommended that “Nigeria must urgently enforce transparency and operationalise the National Tobacco Control Act’s disclosure provisions and ban all forms of tobacco industry-led CSR across public institutions.
“Conflict-of-interest safeguards must be strengthened, while ambiguities in the National Tobacco Control Act 2015 and the National Tobacco Control Regulations 2019, that allow the tobacco industry to exploit loopholes, and hamper tobacco control efforts must be closed.
“In addition, fiscal and health measures that make tobacco products less affordable and less accessible must be upheld.
“Above all, Nigeria must treat tobacco control not only as a health issue but also as a governance and development issue.”
The Nigeria Tobacco Industry Interference Index forms part of a global project coordinated by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) to support governments and civil society in implementing Article 5.3 of the WHO-FCTC, which requires countries to protect public health policies from tobacco industry interference.