From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC) has urged the Federal Government to increase the tax on tobacco products with a view to mobilizing additional resources to fund the health sector.
CISLAC, while quoting a World Bank Report, declared that Nigeria has the capacity to generate over N600 million annually by increasing the excise duties on tobacco and alcohol.
Speaking during a media session in Kano, the Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Musa, charged the government to take this hard decision that stands to better protect Nigerians from the harmful effects of tobacco consumption.
He expressed worry at the rate of tobacco consumption in Nigeria, saying that the rate has continued to further stretch the nation’s overwhelmed health facilities.
According to him, over 30,000 Nigerians lose their lives yearly to illnesses associated with tobacco, regretting that the rate was more than the 3000 lives claimed by COVID-19 in its three years pandemic.
He identified tobacco consumption as a major risk factor for over 80 per cent of premature deaths from non-communicable diseases across the globe while explaining that the poorest households, especially in low-income countries, spend as much as 10 per cent of their household income on tobacco, thereby significantly reducing the money available for other basic needs such as food, education and health care.