By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation, Africa (CAPPA), has on Monday, released a report on how the tobacco industry is using social networking platforms to promote their Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) activities and evading a ban on Tobacco Advertising Promotion and Sponsorships (TAPS) mandated by the National Tobacco Control Act 2015.
The launching was held in Abuja and was virtually carried out to reach other stakeholders.
The report, documents how companies such as British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN), through its charity arm – British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATNF), Philip Morris International Nigeria Limited (PMINL) and other tobacco entities operating in Nigeria perform visibility activities that polish their images, distance them from the harms of their products, and attract favourable comments on the internet.
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The Tobacco report involved research supported by a grant from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) on behalf of STOP, a global tobacco industry watchdog.
It researched popular social networking platforms between 2016 and 2021 and flagged 226 activities involving tobacco companies and their allies in Nigeria. The activities are categorized under CSR, promotions, recognition, endorsement, partnerships, advertising and sponsorships.
According to the report, tobacco companies while embarking on their CSR activities deploy different strategies to gain the affection of policymakers, reflect partnerships and collaboration with state institutions and organizations that ultimately help them build good public ratings.
CAPPA Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi said that to adequately capture the activities of the tobacco industry visibilized online, the report is categorized into Tobacco industry preferred social networking channels, the years with the highest documentation of tobacco industry visibility actions in the virtual space, Sectors captured by the tobacco industry’s CSR initiatives, Regions, and States in the country most targeted, and Tobacco Industry Entities, Allies, and Partners.
The report urged the Nigerian government, amongst other things to urgently protect public health policies with respect to tobacco control from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in line with Article 5.3 of the WHO-FCTC and commit to implementing these measures across all branches of government that may have an interest in, or the capacity to, affect public health policies with respect to tobacco control.
