Business Proposed Tobacco Ban Will Create Worse Problems for Nigeria's Economy- Analysts

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LequteMan

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Following Senate's deliberations on the proposed tobacco bill which seeks to regulate the production and consumption of tobacco products in Nigeria weeks ago, policy analysts and industry groups have strongly canvassed against the outright banning of tobacco production in Nigeria.

While Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, Majority Leader of the Senate and other Senators canvassed balanced regulation of the tobacco industry, some members of the Upper Legislative Chamber canvassed for an outright ban of tobacco production in Nigeria, The Nation says.

The groups warned that banning the legitimate production and distribution of tobacco products will spark off a series of developments, including smuggling and criminal money laundering, whose consequences will portend far worse problems for Nigeria, they warned.

“What we are saying is that the legislation should be such that is enforceable and its outcomes, realistic and predictable,” said Olusegun Sotola, Head of Research and Advocacy at the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis, IPPA, an independent policy research organisation based in Lagos.

“Banning the production and consumption of cigarettes will affect legitimate producers in Nigeria and lead to a closure of factories and losses of thousands of jobs with serious economic backlash on many families.”

“Demand for cigarettes,” he said, “given our porous borders will simply be met by smuggling of cigarettes into Nigeria, which could worsen the security challenges in the country.”

Citing examples from other countries that had in the past attempted to impose draconian regulations on tobacco production, Sotola explained that the rate of cigarette smuggling went up drastically in such countries as a consequence.

“An important point the legislators should ponder is why any government hasn’t banned the sale of cigarettes,” posited Tony Ogbulafor of the Campaign for Social Justice, CSJ, a civil society group.

#Tobacco #Cigarette #Nigeria

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