By BANNERNEWS Reporter, Calabar
The Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) has raised concerns over what it described as grossly inadequate funding for tobacco control, warning that tobacco-related diseases claim more than 16,100 lives in Nigeria every year.
The alliance said the low budgetary allocation persists despite the huge health and economic burden of tobacco use across the country.
Speaking at an advocacy event in Calabar on Wednesday, the Public Relations Officer of the NTCA, Mr Emmanuel Onwuka, cited the World Health Organisation (WHO) as estimating that over 3.5 million Nigerians use tobacco, while more than 16,100 die annually from tobacco-related illnesses.
Onwuka said government allocated only about ₦28 million to tobacco control between 2023 and 2025, comprising ₦4.7 million in 2023, ₦10 million in 2024 and ₦13 million in 2025.
He described the allocations as grossly inadequate, noting that they pale in comparison with the estimated ₦526.4 billion Nigeria spent treating tobacco-related diseases in 2019, according to the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa.
According to him, the poor funding threatens effective implementation of the National Tobacco Control Act, 2015, and weakens enforcement of smoke-free laws, public awareness campaigns, smoking cessation services, research and monitoring of the tobacco industry.
He said many of these critical interventions remain heavily dependent on international donor support, particularly from the WHO and other development partners, which have continued to provide advocacy, policy and implementation assistance.
Onwuka warned that shrinking global development funding could further undermine tobacco control programmes, leaving Nigeria more vulnerable to aggressive marketing by tobacco companies and worsening public health outcomes.
He called on the Federal Government to establish sustainable domestic financing by dedicating a portion of tobacco tax revenues exclusively to tobacco control programmes and enforcement.
Citing examples from other African countries, Onwuka said Gabon commits one per cent of its tobacco tax revenue to tobacco control, while Côte d’Ivoire channels special tobacco levies into public health programmes.
Quoting the Executive Secretary of the Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme, Dr Vetty Agala, Onwuka said sustainable tobacco control financing depends on effective revenue generation, resource pooling and strategic investment in health interventions.
He added that dedicated funding would strengthen law enforcement, public education, cessation services, research, institutional capacity and implementation of existing tobacco control policies.
Onwuka noted that the NTCA, alongside Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, has consistently urged the Federal Government to increase annual funding for tobacco control to at least ₦300 million, describing the proposal as a modest but necessary investment that would save lives, reduce healthcare costs and improve national productivity.
