Nigeria’s Race to A Smoke-Free Screen

With over seven million deaths recorded every year due to tobacco-related illnesses, stakeholders in government, film industry, legal, media and public health recently mobilised for a smoke-free Nollywood in a summit held in Lagos. Yinka Olatunbosun reports

Accusing fingers have always pointed in the direction of Nollywood for the prevalence of smoking scenes on screen, as well as the glamourisation of smoking and tobacco products placement. The argument that often ensue is that art imitates life.

Hence, if people smoke in real life situations, it is just natural to expect the same in movies. While it is important to preserve artistic truth, it is more important to preserve human lives.

That was the background to the summit held on June 17 which had as moderator, the ace broadcaster, Edmund Obilo. The summit which was convened by Corporate

Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) had participants drawn from the Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), National Orientation Agency (NOA), Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Nigeria Police.

Others include members of the Association of Nigeria Theatre Arts Practitioners (ANTP), The Golden Movies Ambassador, Directors Guild of Nigeria, Motion Picture Practitioners’ Association of Nigeria (MOPPAN) and the Kannywood Women Association of Nigeria (K-WAN) amongst others.

The aim of the gathering was to familiarise the stakeholders with the legal framework against the use of tobacco. In the welcome speech by the Executive Director, CAPPA, Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi, it was revealed that streaming sites have joined the movement against smoking scenes. For instance, Netflix, in 2019, issued a strong statement against the portrayal of smoking in movies rated PG-13 or TV-14.

Nollywood is eager to join the league of nations that have upheld several legislations on smoking. To be sure, five major players in Hollywood namely Disney, AT&T’s Warner Bros, Comcast’s Universal, Sony and Viacom’s Paramount have banned smoking in non-adult movies except where it is absolutely necessary for historical accuracy and artistic expression. Also, in 2005, India banned smoking in films and TV series in 2005 with a caveat that if cinemas must screen old movies with smoking scenes, they must screen it with anti-tobacco messages.

According to Akinbode, stakeholders are being guided by the legal framework for tobacco usage in Nigeria. The National Tobacco Control Act 2015 and the National Tobacco Control Regulations 2019 prohibits tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorships in movies and entertainment. He also revealed details of the screening for 36 movies conducted in 2020.

“22 out of the 36 movies reviewed had scenes which glamourised smoking. Ten of the smoking scenes were viewed as necessary to depict the character of the actor or buttress the message being passed, while thirteen clearly depicted cigarette packs with some brand names evidently visible,’’ he said.

In her intervention, Dr. Kemi Odukoya, the Associate Professor, College of Medicine, University of Lagos remarked that Nigeria is a prone target of the tobacco industry due to a number of factors including population, high poverty and illiteracy rates, corruption as well as weak and ineffective law enforcement.

She revealed further that between 1995 and 2015, it was estimated that there is an increase in current smokers in Nigeria from 8 to 11 million with more men recorded as smokers than women. According to her findings, the median age of initiation into smoking is 16.8 years. The broad range of tobacco use include cigarettes, cigars, pipes, hookah also known as Shisha.

“Shisha smoking is a bonding activity among young people. There’s a social benefit that shisha provides but it is damaging to the body. Tobacco affects the heart even more than the lungs. It causes over two million deaths from cardiovascular diseases every year. We need smoke free laws to protect the public spaces and buildings from tobacco pollution,’’ he said.

In his presentation, the lawyer and technical officer, CTFK, Michael Olaniyan observed that a young person is more likely to get addicted to tobacco than an older person which is why adverts on tobacco target youths.

“Nigerian movies and songs have gone global. If we continue to promote tobacco use, we are promoting the culture of smoking globally,’’ he said.

Some of the recommendations made by the participants at the summit include the enforcement of the existing laws on tobacco that is the NTC Act 2015 and NTC Regulations 2019, adequate monitoring of spaces that children interface including cartoons for tobacco industry and the establishment of tobacco control desk in all the enforcement agencies for enforcement exercises at national and state levels amongst others.