Participants at a summit on Smoking in Movies (#Smokefreenollywood) in Lagos have called for the immediate commencement of the ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorships, reports Premium Times.

Participants at the summit, which was convened by the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa on 17 June, urged for an establishment of a working group of practitioners working collaboratively with the regulatory agencies to develop a Code of Practice for practitioners in the media and entertainment space on smoking in movies.
According to the organisers of the summit, the objective was to familiarise participants with the provisions of the National Tobacco Control Act 2015 and the National Tobacco Control Regulations 2019 that pertain to smoking in movies and entertainment sectors, as well as build consensus on the enforcement of provisions of the NTC Act 2015 and the NTC Regulations 2019 in the media and entertainment sectors.
They also observed that the prevalence of smoking scenes and product placement in Nollywood movies portray smoking as acceptable and classy, and that the needed synergy among government agencies to combat the tobacco menace is still lacking, the report said.