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Group urges LASG to provide smoke-free public places
The Protecting and Activating Communities (PACT) Against Tobacco, a youth-led initiative, has called on the Lagos State Government to provide smoke-free public places to ensure implementation of the Tobacco Control Act of 2015.
This is contained in a statement in Lagos on Friday by Lagos Lead Officer of PACT, George Adjete,
Adjete urged the government to take decisive action towards a smoke-free future by banning smoking in public spaces and putting up smoke-free signage in all public spaces.
He said PACT gave the advice during the CleanAirNaija Stakeholders’ meeting organised in Lagos, saying the call was to strengthen the implementation of the tobacco.
The reports have it that the National Tobacco Control Act, 2015 regulates all aspects of tobacco control including smoke free places, tobacco advertising, sponsorship, tobacco packaging and labeling.
Adjete said, “Nigeria, according to the reports, has the fourth-highest number of deaths from second hand smoke in Africa, with 27.6 million Nigerians exposed to smoking in public places.
“The urgent need to create smoke-free public places in Lagos State cannot be overemphasised and the government’s response to this call is eagerly awaited.
“Lagos is a pioneer member of C40 Cities, a global network of major cities that work together to address climate change and sustainable environmental practices with a focus on quality air.
“It is important to mention that tobacco smoke is a harmful pollutant because it’s an aerosol full of particles from burning tobacco and additives.
“These particles are numerous than those emitted by an idling diesel engine, to give you an idea, if you smoke three cigarettes, in 30 minutes you emit 10 times more harmful particles than a diesel engine.
“Government officials should converse with young people to enforce laws and implement policies against tobacco misuse, especially in public spaces within the state.”
Adjete added that smoke-free spaces were critical for the health, and economic growth of the nation
“Government should create awareness/campaigns to enlighten people on the dangers of second-hand smoke and avoid further construction of designated smoking areas to avoid indoor smoking,” he said.
Mr Lana Promise , the President of Lagos State University Medical Students Association, also called on government’s agencies saddled with the responsibility of enforcing the tobacco act collaborate with youth-led movements to ensure implementation.
Mr. Babatunde Ajayi, the General Manager of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), said youth engagement, public awareness campaigns were among steps being taken by the state government to address tobacco control.
(NAN)
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ELECTING A POPE: THE BURDEN OF MAKING CHOICES
By Olubunmi Mayaki
“Habemus papam!” which in the English Language means, “We have a Pope.” was pronounced by Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, a French Catholic prelate, His Eminence, Cardinal Dominique Mamberti from the iconic loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican City on Thursday 8 May 2025 after white smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. Those Latin words proclaimed to a tensed global audience the result of the election of a new Supreme Pontiff after the death of Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) on 21 April 2025 at the age of 88 years.
The Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Cardinal Robert Prevost (Pope Leo XIV) emerged as primus inter pares (first among equals) from the cardinals after undergoing detailed election rituals, which have been the process of selecting the head of the 2000-year-old Catholic Church for centuries.
A papal conclave, the process by which a new Pope is selected, was held consisting of one hundred and thirty-three (133) College of Cardinals, drawn from different parts of the world converged at St. Peter’s Basilica for a public mass before heading to the Sistine Chapel to cast their votes to elect the 267th Pope. During the mass, part of the choir renditions reminded voters to remember their last day when they would stand before God in judgment to render their stewardship on earth, which is to prevent them from rigging the voting process. At the behest of the senior cardinal deacon, voting formalities were read to the electors, which included- oath-taking- “I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one whom I believe should be elected according to God”. Other processes are banning phones, jamming calls, forbidding speaking or contacting any of the candidates, voting rounds, spiritual pauses etc.
Looking at the voting process, one should be curious about how an election to pick a leader for a religious body could be so systematic and attract such global attention. It is a sharp contrast to elections where political leaders are chosen. Even in the so-called advanced democracies, we have seen electoral flaws and a dearth of political leaders. States are finding it difficult to pick genuine statesmen, giving rise to hegemonic leaders. These political imperia ums are emerging and stoking crises in their domain. Fallouts of elections are no longer favourable due to unpopular candidates forced on citizens.
Africa, as a case study, shows that no matter the rules put in place by the continent’s leaders, our election processes have been fraught with rigging, corruption and waste. In most cases, the leaders who set the rules are the violators of the same process. Governments conspire with electoral bodies to truncate election processes at will. Such political brigandage has destroyed the progress of the continent.
Closing this view, I hope that African leaders will take a cue from the Catholic Church’s election process to reinvigorate and rejig the continent’s faltering political process for the good of its people. Better still; political scholars from the continent can study the Catholic model. The common features of elections in most parts of Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, are riddled with vote rigging, violence, human rights abuse, repression, barbarism, crises, untold hardship, and sometimes, outright war. This is the bane of Africa’s development.
The burden of making good political choices should ordinarily rest on citizens. However, politicians have hijacked this process for selfish reasons. It has given birth to bad leaders. If we fail to get it right, what we see is what we get. That is the story of the world politics!
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