| FEDERAL Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Dr Modibbo Umar has said that his administration banned tobacco smoking in public places to blaze the trail in the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
He gave the explanation Saturday in Abuja at the official declaration of the Federal Capital Territory as smoke-free. Modibbo said that Nigeria signed the global treaty on June 20, 2004 and ratified it on Oct. 20, 2005. Since then, he said, nothing much had been done to implement that treaty. Modibbo said that the ban was also informed by the debilitating effects of smoking on not only the smokers but also on non-smokers in general. �Nigerians smoke six million sticks of tobacco daily and 196 million sticks in a month. The statistics is disturbing. �It is said that when a non-smoker is exposed to the smoke from tobacco for two hours, it is like he or she had smoked four sticks. �Shall we continue to endanger our lives and those of others?” Modibbo asked. He warned that as from June 1, it would become a criminal offence for anyone to smoke tobacco in public places in the territory. The minister assured that his administration would ensure strict implementation of the policy. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Modibbo’s action has been lauded as helping to safeguard the health of FCT residents from preventable diseases associated with smoking. The Programme Manager of Environmental Rights Action, Mr Akinbode George, congratulated the minister for the courageous initiative. �By this singular act, the minister stands tall in the midst of global champions of public health and healthy lifestyles,” he said. �He has commenced a bold initiative to save the souls of millions of Nigerians. It is our belief that this initiative will reverberate to other African countries, as they will soon replicate the smoke-free Abuja initiative,” he added. Also, Mr Charles Udegbuna, representative of Hotel Owners Forum in FCT, described Modibbo’s initiative as commendable. Udegbuna said that as major stakeholders, members of his association would ensure an effective implementation of the policy in all hotels in the FCT. NAN reports that Saturday’s event also marked the celebration of the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). WNTD is an event which started in 1987 to draw global attention to the preventable death and diseases associated with tobacco consumption. The event is also to pressurise policy-makers to initiate effective actions to reduce tobacco consumption. |
Jun12008