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Says CSR initiatives are a mockery to Nigerians
From Idu Jude, Abuja
The Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) has described the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of tobacco companies in Nigeria as a mockery of poor citizens, stating that the practice has failed to achieve its intended objectives.
The civil rights coalition also alleged that tobacco companies have recently engaged in government policy manipulation to sustain their operations and ensure business survival, despite policies banning such products.
NTCA made the disclosure on Friday in Abuja during a one-day stakeholders’ meeting on tobacco industry interference in Nigeria, which also featured the launch of its 2025 handbook on the tobacco industry interference index.
Speaking during the meeting, the National Coordinator of NTCA, Mr Oluwale Makanjuola, said CSR initiatives by tobacco companies have become exploitative, as they are used to introduce brand names into Nigerian markets despite the ban on tobacco advertising in the media.
The Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Mr Oluwafemi Akinbode, noted that tobacco companies use CSR as a strategy to relaunch themselves into the market.
“What we are saying is that this whole thing only happens in Nigeria, where the tobacco companies seem to do the work of the government. But it is not so. The tobacco companies have failed to pay for the health damages their products have done to Nigerians. The government should tilt their minds towards ensuring that they pay heavily, not only to hang on to corporate social responsibility which is just a gift to the immediate communities. In the USA, Canada, France, and other advanced countries of the world, tobacco companies are required to pay the government, as a policy, not to give gifts directly to the communities. It is a mockery of who we are, and some of them even pay more for media hype for commissioning ordinary boreholes. And we found out that money spent on boreholes costs more than the boreholes themselves, what a shame.”
He argued that the government should be bold enough to educate Nigerians on the concepts of social responsibility and corporate responsibility. He clarified that the tobacco industry’s CSR activities in Nigeria function as a Trojan horse for institutional legitimacy.
“An example is the British American Tobacco Nigerian Foundation (BATNF), in particular, which has embedded itself in state development agendas by funding water, education, and agriculture projects, often in collaboration with ministries and agencies at both state and local government levels.”
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Mary Assunta, Senior Policy Advocate at the South Asia Tobacco Control Alliance, also stated that in Lagos, Oyo, and several other states, BATNF has carried out projects ranging from fish farming support to borehole drilling.
“These initiatives were publicly endorsed by state governments and government agencies, allowing the industry to repair its image, secure political access, and build goodwill, particularly among vulnerable communities.”
She further highlighted that the active promotion of these CSR activities by government actors, rather than their rejection, reflects a disregard for the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Article 5.3, which discourages such engagements because they undermine public health objectives.
NTCA, in its 2025 Tobacco Industry Interference Index, noted that tobacco companies in Nigeria remain entrenched, manifesting in policy manipulation, public sector partnerships, and weak regulatory enforcement.
It observed that one of the most concerning trends is the increasing normalisation of tobacco industry-led CSR initiatives, especially those carried out by the British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation, which are endorsed by the government.
The alliance recommended that the government should fully implement Section 25 of the National Tobacco Control (NTC) Act by investing in a national, publicly accessible disclosure system that documents all official interactions with tobacco companies.
It also called for a ban on all tobacco-related CSR activities across public institutions.
Meanwhile, NTCA appealed to media partners and other stakeholders to increase public awareness and strengthen mobilisation against tobacco companies’ exploitation through CSR initiatives.
