African Tobacco Control Alliance, ATCA, has lauded Nigeria for her “historic” new measures prohibiting the promotion and glamourisation of tobacco and tobacco products in its film and music industry.

ATCA’s Executive Secretary, Leonce Dieudonne Sessou, who gave the commendation in a statement yesterday, said the regulation announced by the Nigerian Film and Video Censors Board, NFVCB, on May 21, 2024, was the first of its kind in Africa and the second in the world after India.

The body noted that it was also in line with new measures to address cross-border tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and the depiction of tobacco in entertainment media adopted by parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in Panama City in February 2024.

Backing the Regulations, Sessou said: “We endorse the guidelines, titled ‘Prohibition of Money Ritual, Ritual Killing, Tobacco, Tobacco Product, Nicotine Product Promotion, Glamorization, Display in Movies, Musical Videos and Skits’ Regulations 2024.