Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ukoabasi Isip
Abstract
Significance of study:
Nigeria is seen by transnational tobacco companies (TTCs), seeking to compensate for declining sales in
traditional markets, as a key emerging market. With a population of 180 million people, and gross do-
mestic product (GDP) per capita of US$1092 in 2014, Nigeria is the seventh most populous country in
the world and Africa’s largest consumer market. Existing evidence shows that a key strategy by TTCs, to
grow new markets worldwide, has been to target youth. Given that half of regular smokers eventually
die of their habit, tobacco companies must sustain demand by recruiting new users to replace
them. Studies worldwide show that youth who start smoking in secondary school (13-18 years) are at
least twice more likely to continue smoking than those who begin smoking after this age. About 22% of
the Nigerian population is aged between 10 to 19 years.
Isip, U. (2017). Tobacco industry targeting of youth in Nigeria since the 1990s: An analysis of tobacco industry documents. MSc Thesis. Simon Fraser University. Available from http://summit.sfu.ca/item/17560
The Global Tobacco Control Research Programme, led by Professor Kelley Lee (Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University) is an international and interdisciplinary collaboration with researchers from the
UK (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of York), USA (San Diego State University), Australia (Macquarie University) along with additional collaborators in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe. This research pro-
gramme aims to understand the dual and dynamic relationship between the tobacco industry and globalization, generating new knowledge of industry activities and strategies within the changing world economy to inform stronger tobacco control
measures. This project is funded by the National Cancer Institute, US National Institutes of Health, Grant Number R01-CA091021. Special thanks to Professor Kelley Lee and Dr. Julia Smith for their contributions to this poster presentation. Travel
support was provided by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco and Djavad Mowafaghian Foundation scholarships sponsored the field work for this research in Nigeria.