Nigeria has slipped further in the global ranking of countries protecting public health policies from tobacco industry influence, according to the 2025 Nigeria Tobacco Industry Interference (TII) Index released in Lagos.
The report, produced by Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) and unveiled on Thursday, showed that Nigeria’s score worsened from 60 in 2023 to 62 in 2025, reflecting increased interference from tobacco corporations in policymaking. Out of 100 countries assessed globally, Nigeria now ranks 54th.
The findings, covering April 2023 to March 2025, form part of a global civil society initiative grounded in Article 5.3 of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC), which emphasises that tobacco industry interests are incompatible with public health goals.
CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said the Index exposes how the tobacco industry continues to exploit weak enforcement of Nigeria’s tobacco control laws to project itself as a partner in national development.
“Despite operating a business of addiction, disease, and death, tobacco companies continue to gain strategic access into Nigeria’s policy spaces,” Oluwafemi said. “This year’s score of 62 confirms that industry interference remains a systemic threat to our public health architecture.”
He noted that the industry’s so-called corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities such as borehole donations, scholarships, and reforestation drives are not acts of generosity but manipulation designed to whitewash an image built on addiction and profit. According to him, government officials’ attendance and endorsement of tobacco-sponsored events only help the industry greenwash its deadly business.
Oluwafemi also decried the industry’s growing participation in policy discussions, particularly concerning emerging nicotine products such as e-cigarettes, snus, and other novel items marketed as harm-reduction tools. “The tobacco industry is not a stakeholder in public health,” he warned. “Its interest lies in selling more cigarettes, more nicotine, and spreading more disease and death.”
While acknowledging progress in enforcement, he cited the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s (FCCPC) ₦110 million fine against British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) in 2023 and the National Film and Video Censors Board’s ban on the glamorisation of smoking in Nollywood as notable achievements.
However, he lamented that policy inconsistency, particularly the suspension of tobacco excise taxes in 2023, reversed earlier gains and weakened Nigeria’s alignment with WHO and ECOWAS tax standards. “Nigeria cannot afford to take one step forward and two steps back,” he said. “Strong laws mean little without consistent enforcement.”
Presenting the report, CAPPA’s Assistant Executive Director, Zikora Ibeh, said the 2025 Index assessed seven indicators, including policy participation, CSR, benefits to the industry, unnecessary interaction, transparency, conflict of interest, and preventive measures.
She explained that the worsening score shows that for every rule meant to keep the industry out of policymaking, another loophole quietly lets it back in.
Ibeh noted that the British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF) continues to partner with state ministries and local governments, using empowerment programmes to embed itself in governance despite national restrictions. She said the 2023 suspension of tobacco excise taxes weakened fiscal and health responses while protecting industry profits.
She added that the attendance of high-level government officials, including Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde and House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, a former BAT employee, at tobacco-linked events signals complicity rather than neutrality. She further lamented that many agencies fail to disclose interactions with tobacco companies, as required under Section 25 of the National Tobacco Control Act, while few public officials have been trained on Article 5.3 compliance.
“At 62 points, Nigeria’s interference score is a wake-up call,” Ibeh said. “Our laws are strong, but their guardianship is weak.”
The report urged urgent action to strengthen policy independence and transparency in tobacco control. CAPPA recommended enforcing full disclosure of all government interactions with tobacco companies, banning tobacco industry-led CSR in public institutions, strengthening conflict-of-interest safeguards for officials, and restoring predictable, inflation-adjusted tobacco taxes aligned with WHO and ECOWAS standards.
It also called for enforcement of pictorial health warnings covering at least 60 percent of packaging, institutionalisation of Article 5.3 training across the public service, and the exclusion of tobacco firms from all policy and regulatory consultations.
“To safeguard one, we must completely disentangle from the other,” CAPPA concluded. “There can be no middle ground between public health and corporate profit.”
