By Robert Egbe
Nigeria’s decision to earmark sin taxes, levies on alcohol, tobacco, and sugary drinks, for health financing signals a firm commitment to prioritising citizens’ health.
It also aligns with long-standing calls from Nigerian public health advocates and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The move could not have come at a better time. Earlier this year, a major investigation revealed that Nigerians spend about ₦1.92 trillion (roughly $1.26 billion) annually seeking treatment for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Nearly 30 per cent of deaths in the country are linked to NCDs, with tobacco, alcohol, and sugary drinks among the leading culprits.
Tobacco use alone drives a wave of debilitating illnesses, including cancers of the lung, mouth, bladder, and colon; heart disease and stroke; chronic respiratory illnesses like COPD; type 2 diabetes; ectopic pregnancies; and premature or low birth weight babies. Globally, tobacco kills well over seven million people annually, 300,000 in Africa alone.
Eight in ten smokers live in low-and middle-income countries like Nigeria, fuelling Big Tobacco’s multi-billion-dollar profits.
In 2015, the world’s six largest cigarette firms made $62 billion in profits, more than the combined annual budgets of several small nations.
These profits bankroll relentless marketing campaigns, youth-targeted advertising, lobbying against regulations, and deceptive promotion of so-called “reduced-risk” products such as vapes, heated tobacco, snus, and nicotine pouches.
Far from solving the problem, these products hook a new generation on nicotine while undermining tobacco control efforts.
Despite this, Nigeria’s funding for tobacco control remains woefully inadequate.
In 2024, following persistent advocacy, the government allocated ₦13 million to the Tobacco Control Fund (TCF), far short of the ₦300 million minimum required to make it fully operational.
If Nigeria is serious about reducing tobacco’s deadly toll, it must adopt innovative financing strategies, including holding the tobacco industry directly accountable.
In 2024, the Canadian government reached a landmark C$32.5 billion settlement with three tobacco giants, JTI-Macdonald Corp., Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, and Imperial Tobacco Canada.
The payout compensates provinces, territories, and former smokers for decades of healthcare, social, and economic costs caused by tobacco.
Finalised in August 2025, the agreement capped a 27-year legal battle, proving that the industry can be held liable for its deception and harm.
The Canadian settlement echoes the United States’ historic 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, in which four leading tobacco firms agreed to pay $206 billion over 25 years, with payments continuing indefinitely.
For Nigeria, these precedents offer a roadmap for action. As WHO tobacco control chief Adriana Blanco Marquizo noted, the Canadian deal has far-reaching global implications, showing that Big Tobacco can be forced to pay for the destruction it causes.
Nigeria has already taken small steps in this direction. In 2023, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) fined British American Tobacco parties $110 million for violating public health regulations, the largest fine ever issued by the regulator.
This demonstrates that legal action is possible on Nigerian soil.
However, scaling up requires stronger legal groundwork. Nigeria must build airtight cases based on healthcare costs, drawing lessons from Canadian and U.S. litigation. Civil society mobilisation is also critical.
Groups like Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) and the Nigerian Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) are essential for sustaining advocacy pressure.
Equally important is the collection of robust data to document the true costs of tobacco use, hospitalisations, lost productivity, and premature deaths. International collaboration with networks experienced in fighting Big Tobacco would also help counter the industry’s aggressive legal tactics.
Nigeria should consider emulating Canada’s Tobacco Claims process, which allows individuals affected by smoking, second-hand smoke (SHS), or the loss of loved ones to tobacco-related illnesses to seek compensation without upfront legal fees.
This process operates separately from settlement funds, delivering justice to victims while amplifying public support.
The toughest challenge may not be cigarettes but the new wave of smokeless products and vapes, falsely marketed as safer alternatives.
Any Nigerian settlement must explicitly fund counter-marketing campaigns, research, and enforcement to dismantle this harmful narrative.
Canada was careful to exclude industry-backed harm reduction foundations from its deal, a precedent Nigeria must follow.
Nigeria’s youthful population is already a prime target for flavoured vapes and e-cigarettes.
Failure to act could condemn a generation to nicotine addiction, chronic illness, and lost potential. Conversely, bold action could mark a turning point, funding healthcare, empowering advocacy, and saving millions of lives.
The real question is whether Nigerian leaders will put public health above the lobbying power of Big Tobacco.
Canada has shown that it can be done. If Nigeria follows through, with political will, legal rigour, and strong civil society support, it can not only transform its health financing but also send a powerful message across Africa that the era of tobacco impunity is over.
Egbe is a tobacco control advocate at Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA).
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