When people
suddenly emerge apostles of anti-this and anti-that, we often assume they must
be altruistic in intention. We do take it for granted that they must mean well
simply because they appear to be speaking well. However, in most cases such
people are not being driven by any altruistic motive. At a closer look, the
ulterior motive which is their primary motivation becomes obvious. Children and
women are common motifs in their campaigns but in the long run it becomes clear
that they (the campaigners) just use them (children and women) as a means to
the end the campaigners seek to achieve, not the very end. Those on whose
behalf they claim to fight more often than not do end up being the very victims
of the campaigns. Hence, the need to examine the ugly significations of
anti-tobacco campaign woven around children right to a good future.
For quite a
while, there has been a crusade in Nigeria against tobacco as it is in most
part of the world. Many countries in Europe have already banned the use of
tobacco products in public places. Some African countries have also done the
same. Nigeria too must not be left out of the global campaign against the use
of tobacco as there is much at stake than mere tobacco. (Obama’s threat to
withdraw the US supports to Nigeria for not recognising the right of gay people
in the country shows clearly that there is more to such global campaigns than
what the parties bring to the public space.) Presently, two bills are under
deliberations in the legislative arm of government pursuing the intents of some
anti-tobacco NGOs. One of such bills, the National Tobacco Control Bill, failed
in 2009 when President Goodluck Jonathan refused to attest it. From World
Health Organisation (WHO) to local NGOs, the cry is “Ban tobacco advertising to protect young people” and “Campaign For
Tobacco Free Kids.” Push for legislation against tobacco products production
and advertising is considered the most effective way for protecting young
people and achieving a future for them. However, the way legislation is used in
Nigeria assures beyond doubts that in the long run the anti-tobacco campaigns
in Nigeria may be found to have nothing to do with protecting young children.
What in
Nigeria has legislation ever changed in favour of the masses? Noise for
legislation does not start with anti-tobacco movements. For well over a decade
there was the cry of Freedom of Information Bill. Then, the promoters of the
Bill created through the power of the mass media a utopian Nigeria where
information will become accessible on demand to any interested party. However,
since the Bill became an Act, nothing significant has changed. Government and
other official activities are still executed on the basis of official secrecy.
Journalists still have to rely on what political office holders tell them as
they have no better alternative in practical terms. Journalists and media
houses have recently been victims of government hostility the barbaric way it
was in the military era. It is interesting to know that it is the government that
signed the FOI Bill into law that has attempted to gag the press through crude
brutality. That stands as a testimony against the intention of those who were
at the forefront of the campaign for FOI Act, showing that their goal was
purely political and nothing more. If not, where is the campaign for
implementation? What does sound-minded Nigerian make out of that? There is much
noise around an idea that sells, and this is an established principle in the
politics of funding NGOs.
In a like
manner, the Petroleum Industry Bill also has raised dust for years. A heated
argument in all sections of the country attends the issues it raises. The
legendary Occupy Nigeria was indeed a brave attempt by Nigerians at calling the
Federal Government to give its decision on oil matters human face. Isn’t the
Bill already a stillborn? From the National Assembly where it started to fuel
pumps around the country, it is still the same story of corruption. We can
guess whose interest it is the proponents of the Bill are serving. That does
not mean the opponents mean any good either. What about the deregulation of the
oil sector of the economy? President Goodluck Jonathan introduced it as the
only hope for reviving the economy of the country. (I still buy a litre of
kerosene a hundred and thirty naira up till today. It is even worse in some
places.) Yes, it is still partially deregulated. The point is if partial
deregulation has not been able to change the landscape in any significant
manner, the potency of full deregulation in doing any better is doubtful. Some
may consider SURE-P a valid point for deregulation. I simply ask such people to
tell me where our annual infrastructure budget goes and what is left for SURE-P
to do if budgetary allocation is responsibly utilised.
So, why do
some Nigerians still make noise about regulation and legislation their
legitimate business? The answers are not shrouded in any obscurity. There are
legislators and they must legislate. There are NGOs and they must serve the
interests of their funding bodies. If truly the WHO and all these NGOs care
about the youths, things that are more imperative should be their primary
preoccupation. One of such matters is education. Up till today, beyond primary
school education is not a right in Nigeria and we don’t have NGOs campaigning
against the reign of ignorance and the passivity of government in addressing
it. This may be because ignorant people are easy to rule. ASUU has been on
strike for two months and concerned NGOs who are in the business of securing a
future for Nigerian kids have not seen the cause of ASUU a worthwhile and
urgent one. There is a fault in their logic: when sticks of cigarette are taken
away from the view of our children, life becomes better for them and their
future becomes assured. This shows nothing but trivialisation of the youths
themselves and of the myriad of problems that threaten their future.
If these
people’s interest in the youths is sincere, let them sponsor bills that will
address in realistic ways the problem of unemployment in Nigeria. An
embarrassing experimentation is going on with entrepreneurial training in
various higher institutions of learning across the country. There are
programmes designed for practical skill acquisition alongside curricular
activities. Those programmes have been celebrated as laudable attempts at
solving the problem of graduate unemployment in the country. However,
polytechnics and universities lecturers and professors alongside the entire
nation ought to mourn that development rather than celebrate. In the name of
acquiring practical entrepreneurial skills, teacher education students could
learn tailoring and pharmacy students shoemaking. The point we are making is that
those courses do not have practical relevance. Why then should students invest
their time and resources in education when it cannot equip them with practical
skills that can make them self-sustaining later in life? Isn’t it better to
learn such skills for a year or two with full concentration than with extra
luggage of curricular activities? In a sense, higher education in Nigeria is
becoming relevant only for the certificates.
Government
may ban tobacco products adverts but keep playing around more serious societal
problems such as official corruption that has become a defining attribute of
the country in international relations. The very problems that threaten the
future of our children will remain yet unsolved. All these noises reflect a
conspiracy in high places against common people. They do all these to distract
us from the bitter realities of the fact that the country does not appear to
have any interest in its youths beyond selfish political interest. NGOs and
activists are the forefronts of these campaigns are not doing them for gratis.
Their funding comes from somewhere. They dare not tell the public, in the
spirit of Freedom of Information, how much they have spent lobbying the bill in
the National Assembly and the implications of the campaigns for the seriously
fractured Nigerian economy.
The World Health
Organisation claims that tobacco kills up to half its users. Such claim is
meaningless to an average Nigerian youth who since childhood has lived among
people who smoke and is yet to see most of them fall dead. In principle such
claims are just like the myths and taboos parents do tell their children when
they are young. Children do grow up to a point where they doubt the
authenticity of such claims and attempt the forbidden. Once they find out they
are not true, children do become caught up in the habit of acting in defiance
to those myths and taboos, even when they really don’t have to. Thus, what was
intended to be deterrents end up being motivations. A friend once said that
when he was in medical school, the common practice was if you cannot remember
anything about the causes of some diseases, just write “smoking and drinking.”
That reveals the degree of mystification around the use of tobacco products,
even among those who are supposed to know better. One problem with
mystification is that it is often counter-productive. When young people
eventually find out that the claims made against tobacco are both unreasonable
and unsubstantiated, nothing will be able to hold them back when they venture
into its use.
Laws may be
made against tobacco advertising but you and I cannot be too sure we will be
any better for it. Our children sure will be left with the future that
responsible parents can plan out for them and the one they can eke out for themselves
in the absence of responsible parenthood. Laws may restrict the use of tobacco
products to some quarters of the society but they will also give your children
and mine more rights and freedom to visit anywhere they like. In the long run
we will realise that legislation against tobacco will not do for kids what
responsible parenthood must do for them. Take time to study the trend in
teenage crimes in those countries where tobacco adverts have been banned for
years; where most of the teenagers have never seen tobacco adverts on the TV.
You will find that legislation, as good as it is, can be a distraction from
addressing problems at their roots. What happens after legislators have gone
home with the popularity gained from bill sponsorship should start being our
business because it really is our business.
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