The Nigerian Federal Government plans to increase the excise tax on tobacco products from 30% ad-valorem to 50% to tackle tobacco smoking in the country, according to Dr Mangai Malau, the Head of the Tobacco Control Unit at the Federal Ministry of Health. The move is part of measures to control tobacco smoking and to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) standard.

Malau presented his findings at the National Tobacco Control Budget Advocates Meeting, saying that tobacco control funding should come mainly from taxation and that stakeholders must apply tax measures appropriately to address the issues of tobacco control in the country. Malau also said that the National Tobacco Control Act provides for a Tobacco Control Fund that should be used to fund tobacco control activities, programs, and projects.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA), Akinbode Oluwafemi, called on civil society organisations to advocate for more budgetary allocation for tobacco control and to form alliances during the advocacy.

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WHO has said that tobacco causes more than eight million deaths annually around the world, with more than seven million of those deaths as a result of direct tobacco use and about 1.2 million resulting from non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.