Nigeria: NTCA Rejects £4m Tobacco Investment

Source from:  Daily Times  09/22/2013

A coalition of tobacco control groups in Nigeria, Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance has described as unacceptable the proposal by the British American Tobacco Nigeria to build A £4m headquarters in Lagos.

Managing Director of BATN, Keith Gretton during a visitation to the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, said the company remitted about N15bn in taxes annually to the Federal Government.

He added that the company was constructing its £4m headquarters in Lagos as a demonstration of its long term commitment to Nigeria.

But, Chairman of NTCA, Nurudeen Ogbara, in a statement on Thursday, asked Fashola and the Lagos State House of Assembly to reject the new investment of the tobacco industry.

He also faulted the claim by Gretton that BATN remitted N15billion tax to the Nigerian government, saying Nigeria pays more in healthcare costs for people affected with tobacco smoking.

He said: "It is unacceptable that British American Tobacco Nigeria should be discussing how to make additional investments in Nigeria despite the fact that its $150million cigarette manufacturing factory in Ibadan has brought nothing but death and poverty to Nigeria. We reject in its entirety, the proposal to build another headquarters for the tobacco industry in Lagos.

"It is absolute falsehood for the tobacco industry to claim that it pays taxes. No corporation pays taxes, it only collects the taxes on behalf of the government and if Nigerians don't buy tobacco they will still pay the taxes through other means."

He argued that Lagos has recorded high deaths and sicknesses associated with the tobacco use in Nigeria.

According to him, a study in 11 General Hospitals in Lagos in 2006 revealed that two persons die every day from a tobacco related disease.

He said: "We call on the government to fulfil its mandate of ensuring the best quality of health for the residents by protecting the tobacco bill from industry interference. Article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control forbids this interference. We call on the government to put the health of the people before the profits of multinational corporations.

"Lagos has been at the receiving end of tobacco industry activities resulting in massive deaths of Lagosians and the government spent N216, 000 to treat each of the 9,000 cases recorded in 2006. Governor Fashola must reject this new investment." Enditem