A senior health department official in Nigerian capital Abuja has said that smokers who light up in public places from June 1 will be prosecuted.
"As from tomorrow (June 1), we will begin to arrest and prosecute people who smoke in public places in the entire Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja," said the FCT official."We are going to enforce the anti-tobacco act promulgated in 1994. The law enforcement agents have been alerted," said the official who requested anonymity.
At a national level, the federal government has in recent years intensified media campaigning against smoking.
"Smokers are likely to die young," is a popular advertising slogan on radio and television stations.
The advertising of tobacco and tobacco products has also been banned on broadcast and billboard media.
The World Health Organisation said Friday in Geneva that only a total ban on all forms of tobacco advertising can stop the "constantly mutating virus" of the marketing industry and protect vulnerable young people.
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Source-AFP
RAS/L
