The Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) on Thursday said Nigeria spent N526.4 billion to treat tobacco-related ailments in 2019, The Nation report.
This, according to the group, was part of the outcome of its findings.
CSEA Director of Education and Governance Research/Senior Research Fellow Dr Adedeji Adeniran made this known at a workshop in Alausa, Lagos.
According to him, no fewer than 29,472 deaths were attributable to smoking.
Adeniran said the figure represented around 4.9 per cent of deaths recorded same year.
He reiterated the call of 50 per cent tax on tobacco companies.
Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) Director of Programmes Philip Jakpor said the government needs to partner research and advocacy groups on tobacco control.
“We anticipate that getting the data to the government will help review policies on tobacco control.
“One of the things we heard for instance was that the current tax imposed on tobacco products is low compared to what we have in other countries,” he said.
An Associate Professor of Medicine at the Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), Dr Olufunke Adeyeye, said smoking puts lives of smokers at risk. Adeyeye, who is also a Consultant Pulmonologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), said those that do not die young are having huge expenditures on health care and poor quality of life. “So, it’s important to know that when you smoke, you interfere with your quality of life. You can have sudden death; you can develop stroke or wounds that refuse to heal. You can have babies that are too small, children that go to hospital all the time from recurrent infections.
So, there’s really no benefit in smoking,” she said.
