As a frontline measure in improving its public health, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has advised the Gombe State Government to impose taxes within its constitutional jurisdiction on retail and consumption of tobacco products.
According to CISLAC’s policy brief on Financing for health through taxation, a case study for tobacco taxation in Nigeria, 2021, there is a heavy burden on the use of tobacco thus, reaching high epidemic proportions, it a major global public health challenge.
CISLAC quoted the World Health Organization WHO, which estimates about 13 million smokers in Nigeria in 2012, with over 16,000 deaths attributable to smoking.
With the scaring indices, Solomon Adoga, Senior Programme Officer of CISLAC in Abuja, during a one-day stakeholders’ engagement for CSOs on tobacco control in Gombe State, advised the Gombe State Government to create a framework that allows it to license tobacco retailers and distributors that are in the state to place levies and fines on people contravening the framework.
He explained that at the national level, the tobacco tax reforms programme aims to increase excise rates on tobacco taxes that will ultimately translate to reduce affordability of the product and improve health.
“But in Gombe State now, being that the state does not collect excise taxes, there are also other forms of taxation that are within the jurisdiction of the state.
“For instance, the state can create a framework that allows it to license tobacco retailers, distributors that are in the state to place levies and fines on people contravening the framework if they are eventually put in place.
“By so doing, it will also contribute to the price and tax measures for tobacco control in the State. And not just doing that, there is also a viable opportunity for the state to increase its revenue through this kind of measures. So it’s a win-win situation for public health and public finance”, he emphasized.
Participants at the meeting expressed delight and interest to go all out to create awareness and advocate for the tobacco tax reforms in Gombe State.
