Ogun State government on Monday expressed worry over the prevalence of smoking among secondary school students in the state.
To this end, the government said it has intensified campaigns against drug abuse and cigarette smoking by students of public and private schools in the state.
The state Commissioner of Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, lamented that 3,200 young children and teenagers under 18 smoke their first cigarette while more than 2,100 young adults become daily smokers.
Coker disclosed this while addressing journalists to kick-start an awareness campaign against smoking to mark the 2021 World No Tobacco Day in Abeokuta, the state capital.
She said the Ministry of Health through the Ogun State Drug Control Committee (OSDCC) has been engaging secondary school students across the state to discourage them from smoking and the use of illicit drugs.
Coker drug-free clubs would be established in both public and private secondary schools.
The commissioner said 16,800 Nigerians die of tobacco-related illnesses annually, adding that cigarette smoke contains more than 7,000 harmful chemicals, “70 of which are known to cause cancer.”
Coker said, “Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death in the world. It kills more people than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
“On the average, the life expectancy of a smoker is 10 years less than a non-smoker.
“Nearly 6 million people die each year from tobacco-related diseases and this number is expected to rise to 8 million by 2030.
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