SMOKING WILL BE BANNED SOON IN NIGERIA - FG SPEAKS

The Federal Government, on Thursday, said smoking would soon be banned in the country as soon as the Anti-Tobacco Bill before the National Assembly was passed into law.

It also disclosed its readiness to convene a Universal Health Coverage to help boost strategies towards improving healthcare delivery.
Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, who spoke in Abuja, at a ministerial platform, insisted that the Federal Government could no longer condone smoking.

He asked rhetorically: “Why are you smoking? Why are you taking what will kill you? What benefit do you derive from smoking?”
Professor Chukwu listed his achievements in office in the last two years to include establishment of National Trauma Centres in the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital and the National Hospital, Abuja; completion of Federal Staff Hospital, Jabi, Abuja; completion of Laboratory and Administrative building of the Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja, and rehabilitation and equipping of several teaching hospitals in the country.

The minster disclosed that President Goodluck Jonathan increased funding for polio eradication to N4.7billion and made further commitment of N2.5billion this year with a Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication constituted to help in the fight against the disease.

He said, “today in Nigeria, seven of our teaching hospitals can do kidney transplant. This month, we are expecting International Certification Team on the Elimination of Guinea Worm in Nigeria.”