Nigeria: Investigation – How Multibillion Naira Illicit Tobacco Trade Thrives

Officials say fake cigarettes are huge public problems to Nigeria, heightening the existing public health concern posed by growing but uncontrolled tobacco market in Nigeria. A 2005 study by the World Health Organization, WHO, estimated that more than 30 per cent of cigarettes smoked in Nigeria are smuggled. A more recent (2012) publication by the World Custom Journal claimed the volume have dropped to less than 10 percent. A Global Adult Tobacco survey on Nigeria estimates that Nigeria is home to 4.5 million smoking adults who expose 27 million others to harmful secondhand smoke. On the whole, Nigerians spend an average of N89.5 billion yearly on tobacco, most of which are illicitly traded and smuggled into the country.

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