The Head of the Human Anatomy Department at the Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Dr. Maryam Nasir Aliyu, has charged the government at all levels to ban or regulate the use of cigarettes in higher institutions of learning.
Dr. Maryam made the plea at an event organized by a youth advocacy group, Protecting and Activating Communities Against Tobacco (PACT), stressing that smoke-free signage should be placed strategically on campuses.
Dr. Maryam, who is also a medical practitioner and a cancer awareness advocate, expressed dismay that tobacco smoking is the number one leading cause of breast and lung cancer.
She stressed that having smoke-free zones in higher institutions will help in halting the spread of cancer.
“The nicotine contained in tobacco use is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, over 20 different types of cancer, and many other debilitating health conditions,” she said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that tobacco kills half of all its users. That amounts to the deaths of more than 8 million people each year, including 1.3 million non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke.
According to the WHO, nearly half of all children breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke, and 65,000 children die each year due to illnesses related to second-hand smoke.
Smoking while pregnant can lead to several life-long health conditions for babies. A report from the organization says around 80 percent of the world's 1.3 billion tobacco users live in low and middle-income countries.
The report further says thirty thousand of the 8 million who lost their lives to tobacco smoking are Nigerians.
One of the leaders of the group, Sadiq Shehu Abubakar, lamented the increasing smoking among youth in the university.
Sadiq stressed that to address the effects of tobacco, “management of higher institutions must provide smoke-free zones in the institutions.”
After Sadiq’s presentation, 20 guests engaged in a campaign tagged “Paint the Change” campaign, where they were tasked to paint a free-smoking world.
The group agreed that to halt smoking in public places, the National Tobacco Act of 2015 and the National Tobacco Control Regulations of 2019 must be reinvigorated.
Also speaking, a champion in the campaign, Khadija Aliyu Ahmed, revealed plans to pay an advocacy visit to the Kano State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure to advocate for “Smoke Zone” in ministries and parastatals.
