SEO Riders:
– Lessons from global tobacco settlements for funding Nigeria’s health
– How Canada’s $32.5B payout shows a path for Nigeria vs Big Tobacco
– Nigeria’s strategy: sin taxes, legal action, and civil society in health financing
Nigeria is now earmarking sin taxes—charges on alcohol, tobacco, and sugary drinks—for health financing, aligning with pleas from public health advocates and the WHO. This shift is significant in light of the fact that Nigerians spend about N1.92 trillion yearly treating non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which cause nearly 30% of the country’s deaths. Tobacco alone is a major factor, being responsible for a host of chronic illnesses and exacerbated by weak funding: in 2024, the government allocated only N13 million to the Tobacco Control Fund, despite an estimated N300 million being necessary just to make it operational.
A precedent for holding the industry accountable comes from Canada’s recent legal victory, where the government struck a C $32.5 billion settlement with multiple tobacco firms to cover past health, social, and economic harms. This example, alongside the U.S.’s Master Settlement Agreement, offers Nigeria a roadmap: establishing strong legal cases, mobilizing civil society, collecting robust data on health costs, and enabling citizens harmed by tobacco—whether directly or through second-hand smoke—to seek compensation. Additionally, Nigeria should ensure that future settlements bar industry-backed “harm reduction” claims that may undermine tobacco control efforts, especially given the rise of vapes and flavored alternative nicotine products targeting young people.