By Usman Shuaibu.
A medical expert with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Primary Healthcare Board, Dr. Ummulkhulthum Bajoga, has called on the government to deem it necessary to increase tax on cigarette, so as to reduce the level of smoking among the youths and adults in the Territory and the country at large.
Bajoga, who made the call in an interview with newsmen, after presenting a paper entitled “Smoking and the Youth” at an occasion to commemorate the2014 World No Tobacco Day, noted that smoking was a common cause of death all over the world.
The event was organised by the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria (APHPN) in Gwagwalada, FCT.
She urgedmedical professionals to continue preaching against smoking among the people, pointing out that smoking is very dangerous to our health.
While advising the youths to desist from smoking of any kind of tobacco, as it has negative effects on them, she however pleaded with students in the tertiary institutions to join tobacco free clubs in schools, to enable them to know the benefits of quitting smoking.
On his part, the chairman of the occasion, Dr. Bawa Abimuku, who is also the chairman of Nigeria Cancer Society, also frowned at the current high level of tobacco smoking in the Society.
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