‘New Smoke Trap’: CAPPA Warns Of Youth Addiction, Urges FG To Boost Tobacco Control Funding
At a time when new nicotine products are quietly reshaping youth culture, public health advocates are raising alarm over what they describe as a looming addiction crisis in Nigeria.
Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has called on the Federal Government to significantly increase funding for tobacco control, warning that current allocations are insufficient to tackle the rising spread of tobacco and emerging nicotine products among young Nigerians.
In a statement issued at the weekend, CAPPA urged authorities to raise the annual tobacco control budget to at least N300 million, stressing that existing funding falls short of effectively implementing the National Tobacco Control Act (NTCA) 2015.
The advocacy followed the release of CAPPA’s report titled “New Smoke Trap: New and Emerging Nicotine and Tobacco Products, Youth Exposure and Policy Gaps in Nigeria,” which revealed how tobacco companies are exploiting regulatory gaps to push products such as e-cigarettes and vapes, particularly targeting young people.
CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, warned that the fast-evolving nicotine market, combined with weak enforcement and poor funding, could trigger a new wave of addiction if urgent action is not taken.
The organisation noted that tobacco use remains a leading cause of preventable deaths in Nigeria, linked to nearly 30,000 fatalities annually.
It also cited data from the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA), which estimates that over N526 billion was spent on treating tobacco-related diseases in 2019 alone.
Despite the economic and health burden, CAPPA lamented that the Tobacco Control Fund, created to support enforcement and awareness efforts, remains underfunded and largely non-operational.
The group further warned that tobacco companies are increasingly leveraging digital platforms, influencers, and lifestyle marketing, often accompanied by misleading “safer alternative” claims, to attract new, younger users.
Beyond funding, CAPPA also pushed for stronger fiscal measures, including raising tobacco taxes to at least 100 per cent and dedicating part of the revenue to public health programmes.
It urged policymakers to treat tobacco control as an urgent national priority, cautioning that failure to act decisively could worsen health outcomes, deepen poverty, and expose millions, especially youths, to preventable diseases.
Follow the Savinews Africa channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VawgaEL5vKA9Y5XTFg0n
