Again, the Nigerian Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) has called on the Federal Government to operationalise the Tobacco Control Fund as recommended in the National Tobacco Control Act 2015.
The alliance which made the plea on Tuesday in Abuja noted that a dearth of funding was hampering tobacco control efforts in the country.
Board Chairman, NTCA, Akinbode Oluwafemi said that this necessitates the need for the government to act in such a way that would ensure the full and successful implementation of the NTC Act in the interest of the nation’s wellbeing.
He reminded the government that operationalizing the tobacco control fund will assist in tobacco control programming in Nigeria.
On their part, other stakeholders said lack of funding was hampering tobacco control efforts in the country calling for the operationalization of the tobacco fund.
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The Alliance believes that the present happenings present the government the best opportunity to invest more in tobacco control and ensure that efforts are further geared to ensuring that taxes are levelled on tobacco products in form of excise duties and VAT and have a portion of them channelled into tobacco control funds.
