‘Tobacco money worse than blood diamonds’

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) and Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) have urged Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola to distance his administration from tobacco giants.

The groups said Fashola’s reception of the management of the British American Tobacco (BAT) should not be repeated.

In a statement in Abuja, the groups said: “This is a major miss-step by Lagos State and we owe it a duty to remind the governor, seen by many as a role model, that tobacco investment is worse than blood diamonds. Fashola should not endorse BAT’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project.

“We gathered that BAT is making plans to donate Hilux Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to the Lagos Security Trust Fund (LSTF), just as some corporations did a few weeks ago. This was carefully planned, so that BAT could interfere in the proposed law to prohibit smoking in public places. This is completely unacceptable.

“Tobacco companies have demonstrated beyond reasonable conviction that they are enemies of public health and, therefore, enemies of the public good. Their attempt to tap into Fashola’s profile to secure public acceptance is repulsive.

“We, therefore, plead with Fashola not to taint his political stature with tobacco money. Any porridge from Big Tobacco will run the stomach! A good research by his aides can reveal how political leaders around the world treat funds.

“What we need in Lagos State is a strong legislation to make corporations accountable for all costs associated with production and profits, and in this case, to make the tobacco industry accountable for the deaths, diseases, environmental, social and other costs associated with smoking.

“Not only is this unholy visit very disturbing, it has confirmed what we have always said that the tobacco industry will never subscribe to any form of regulation. That BAT top echelon is visiting the Lagos State government at a time the state is contemplating laws to regulate the marketing and sale of cigarettes is very revealing to the discerning.

“The governor rightly posited that many of the diseases today are caused by the lifestyle choices that people make. We submit that BAT and other tobacco companies, through their misinformation, glamorisation of cigarettes and deceitful marketing strategies, hide vital information on the deadly nature of their products to users to get them hooked on cigarettes.”

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