Groups Raise Alarm Over Targeting of Nigerian Students with Nicotine Products

Groups Raise Alarm Over Targeting of Nigerian Students with Nicotine Products

By Johnson Arua

Three leading tobacco control advocacy groups in Nigeria have sounded the alarm over what they describe as a covert campaign by foreign and local organisations to lure Nigerian youths, including students, into nicotine addiction through deceptive marketing practices.

In a joint statement issued in Abuja, the Nigerian Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA), Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), and Gatefield accused the tobacco industry and its local fronts of promoting nicotine-based products under the guise of “harm reduction education.”

The groups called on the Federal Government, health authorities, and relevant stakeholders to take swift action to halt the infiltration of these products, warning that such tactics threaten to undermine years of progress in tobacco control and public health.

According to the statement signed by Robert Egbe, CAPPA’s Media and Communications Officer, the development comes at a time when at least 43 countries have banned nicotine vaping products and 26 others have outlawed heated tobacco products over health and ethical concerns.

“Nigeria cannot be a dumping ground for these rejected products,” the groups declared. “The government has a duty to protect citizens from this dangerous tactic.”

They cited a recent event in Abuja organised by a supposed “harm reduction organisation from Sweden,” which they described as a front for the tobacco industry seeking to derail the full implementation of Nigeria’s tobacco control laws.

At the event, the Swedish group reportedly urged Nigeria to adopt a “localised harm reduction strategy” inspired by the Quit Like Sweden model, while simultaneously running mass media campaigns promoting nicotine products as “safer options.”

NTCA, CAPPA, and Gatefield described this as a deceptive form of rebranded tobacco marketing aimed at recruiting a new generation of nicotine users. They also dismissed the group’s assertion that “there can never be a nicotine-free world” as evidence that the industry’s real goal is to perpetuate addiction rather than end it.

Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director of CAPPA, said there is no safe level of nicotine use and warned that the industry’s so-called harm reduction products are fueling a youth addiction crisis.

“These groups are marketing nicotine pouches, vapes, and heated tobacco devices as safer alternatives. That is a dangerous lie,” Oluwafemi said.

“According to WHO data, at least 15 million children aged 13 to 15 are already addicted to e-cigarettes, and children are nine times more likely than adults to vape. This is the so-called ‘smoke-free future’ the industry envisions — one that sustains a steady pipeline of young addicts.”

He urged the government to take decisive action to eliminate youth access to nicotine products and strictly enforce existing tobacco control laws.

“Harm is harm; there is no safe level of poison. Any message suggesting nicotine can be safely used is a public health misstep with devastating consequences,” he added.

Olawale Makanjuola, NTCA Alliance Coordinator, reinforced the call, noting that Nigeria already has a strong legal framework capable of tackling the menace if properly implemented.

“We have the tools: strong taxation, advertising bans, plain packaging, strict age verification, and cessation support. What’s lacking is political will,” Makanjuola said.

“Industry-backed programmes falsely claim not to target youths, yet they launch ‘educational’ campaigns in schools that normalise nicotine use. These are Trojan horses disguised as public health initiatives.”

Also speaking, Omei Bongos-Ikwue, Health Communications, Policy and Advocacy Specialist at Gatefield, said the tobacco industry’s renewed focus on youth is a deliberate survival strategy.

“The industry doesn’t seek to eradicate nicotine but to rebrand it attractively for its most important market — young people,” she said.

“As a party to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), Nigeria must protect its health policies from tobacco industry interference and maintain focus on prevention, not addiction.”

The organisations urged parents, guardians, schools, and the general public to remain vigilant against the spread of nicotine products disguised as lifestyle accessories.

“If our public institutions and communities fail to act now,” the statement warned, “Nigeria risks importing a major public health crisis.”