June 2003

Mrs Dorothy Akunyilli
The Director General
National Agency for Food, Drug, Administration and Control (NAFDAC),
Abuja
Nigeria

Dear Madam,

NAFDAC SHOULD TREAT CIGARETTES AS A 'DRUG' FOR PURPOSES OF REGULATION AND CONTROL OF THE PRODUCT.

Accept our congratulations on the occassion of your receipt of the 'Integrity Award' from Transparency International, in Seoul, South Korea (May 2003), in recognition of your revolutionary and highly successful approach towards combatting the menance of fake/adultrated drugs and the enhancement of the health and welbeing of the Nigerian nation.

The Award is significant in that it brings to fore the realization that positive actions done at the national level will be recognized and appreciated at the international sphere. Likewise, we in Nigeria cannot afford to refrain from imbibing better (health) practices evolved at the international level.

We are encouraged to write this letter by the unrivalled dynamism which you have brought to bear on an erstwhile commatose federal agency (NAFDAC). A dynamism that has now transformed NAFDAC into one of the most vibrant, productive and internationally acclaimed units of the present Nigerian government.

As we and the entire world celebrate your accomplishments in tackling the societal scourge of fake/adultrated drugs, improperly packaged consumables (water, edibles, etc) that have prior to your appointment into office bedevilled the Nigerian nation ; we implore you to use your good office to regulate the activities of an industry that has over the years :

a) deceptively marketted, promotted and packaged (for human consumption) a product known to be injurious to human health,

b) targetted the marketting and sales of highly addictive, unhealthy and cancergineous
products to the youths of our nation, and

c) indulge in covert and overt acts to undermine the health of the Nigerian nation.

The Industry refered to here, as you must have unmistakebly guessed, is the Tobacco Industry.

World Health Organization statistics reveal that tobacco "kills more than HIV/AIDS, Road Accidents, Murder, Suicide, Legal and Illegal drugs combined." Cigarettes is also refered by the 1994 Oxford Medical Companion as "the only legally available product which kills people when it is entirely used as intended."

Dear Madam Director General, by regulating the activities of the Tobacco Industry, you will only be accomplishing one of the fundamental corporate objectives of NAFDAC, as contained in

And joining your conterparts in the International community to usher some sense of responsibility to an industry whose prime product (the Cigarette) presently kills over 5million people annually, 75% of whom are in developing countries, like Nigeria.

We do not seek to bore you here with the grim details of fatalities and diseases caused by the tobacco industry (most of which we are sure you already know). We however refer you to the following internet websites :

As you make this bold decision to control and regulate the consumption, availability, marketing and use of tobacco products, you will be alligning with the aspiration for goodhealth and welbeing of the Nigerian people and nation in addition to joining the rest of the International Community to confront the global tobacco epidemic.

Act wisely ! Nigerians and the rest of the world are watching

Yours truly,
For : PEOPLE AGAINST DRUG DEPENDENCE & IGNORANCE (PADDI)

EZE ELUCHIE (Attorney-at-Law)
Executive Director