A coalition of Nigerian public health organizations is demanding the withdrawal of a tobacco-control amendment bill that would establish separate rules for vaping products, nicotine pouches, heated tobacco products, and other non-combustible products.
The groups called on Aug. 7 for the immediate recall of the National Tobacco Control Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025. They also urged President Bola Tinubu to withhold his assent if the legislation reaches his desk.
The coalition includes the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA), Corporate Accountability and Public Participation in Africa, the Nigerian Cancer Society, and other health and civil society organizations. Notably, it objects to several provisions that would regulate non-combustible products differently from combustible tobacco products.
According to the NTCA statement, the proposed law would permit some advertising, point-of-sale promotion, retail displays, online sales, home delivery, and sampling of non-combustible products. The groups also claim the amendment would impose weaker packaging and health-warning requirements and restrict public access to some manufacturer disclosures. Tobacco Reporter summarized the coalition's objections on Aug. 7.
A publicly indexed copy of the 2025 amendment could not be located to independently verify those provisions. The National Assembly's records do show that a National Tobacco Control Act amendment was introduced in the House of Representatives in July 2023 as HB 47, sponsored by Rep. Pascal Agbodike. The coalition says the current bill has passed through the National Assembly, while also demanding publication of the versions, committee reports, public-hearing records, and stakeholder submissions associated with it.
Nigeria's existing National Tobacco Control Act became law in May 2015. The federal government's National Tobacco Control Enforcement Plan describes the current system as including prohibitions on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship, along with rules governing sales, packaging, labeling, and product contents.
The coalition especially objects to the proposed treatment of heated tobacco products. It says the amendment would define those products as non-combustible and then exclude non-combustible products from the definition of tobacco products.
That criticism is consistent with the World Health Organization's position on classification. A WHO report on heated tobacco products notes that parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control have recognized heated tobacco products as tobacco products.
The more important policy question for Nigerian lawmakers is whether products that don't burn tobacco should automatically face every restriction imposed on cigarettes—or whether differences in risk justify different rules. The health groups have made their preference clear: one restrictive framework for all tobacco and nicotine products.
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