World No Tobacco Day: Nigeria, Others Asked To Impose Environmental Levies
Yesterday, Nigeria joined the rest of the world for the commemoration of this year’s World No Tobacco Day with a charge from the World Health Organisation (WHO) that the Nigerian federal government and other African countries that environmental levies should be imposed across both the value and supply chains.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, made this call in a statement during the commemoration of the 2022 World No Tobacco Day, themed: “Tobacco: Threat to our environment”. She stated that the levies should be spread across the production, processing, distribution, sales, consumption and waste management.
Dr. Moeti said that the aim of this year’s theme was to highlight the environmental impact of the entire tobacco cycle, from its cultivation, production and distribution, to the toxic waste it generates.
“For tobacco-growing countries, I fully commit WHO’s support to assist farmers to switch to alternative crops.”
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Dr. Moeti also encouraged for countries to accelerate the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which provides the necessary guidance to advance the creation of smoke-free environments, create programmes to support the users to quit, as well as support for the application of excise tax and other financial countermeasures.
“Reducing tobacco consumption is a key catalyst towards realising the health-related Sustainable Development Goals but, as the environmental evidence illustrates, the benefits go far beyond health.”
Every year, on the 31st of May, the World No Tobacco Day is commemorated on with the purpose of raising awareness to the negative health, social, economic and environmental impacts of tobacco production and use.
As she highlighted the environmental impacts of farming it, Dr. Moeti said “It include massive use of water, which is a scarce resource across most of the continent, along with large-scale deforestation and contamination of our air and water systems. Land used to grow tobacco could also be used much more efficiently, especially in countries grappling with food insecurity.
