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Anti-Tobacco Bill: 400,000 jobs on the line

If passed into law, the National Tobacco Bill which is currently on the floor of the National Assembly will lead to at least 400,000 Nigerians being thrown into the unemployment market.
This was the view expressed by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Industries, Senator Kamorudeen Adedibu while speaking with reporters recently in Iseyin, Oyo State at the 2008 Farmers’ Productivity Day/Award Ceremony.
Describing the bill as a “misplaced priority” for the country, Adedibu who represents Oyo South in the Senate also vowed to mobilize his colleagues in the upper legislative chamber to ensure that the bill is defeated.

“The bill is actually more than regulation. It is more than that. The bill if it goes through and Insha Allah, it won’t, will render the tobacco companies useless. It is going to increase smuggling and most especially, it is going to stop the necessary means of livelihood for over 400,000 people,” the Senator stated.

He also hinted that the Senate should concern itself more with bills that will “help people, put money in their pockets, put food on their tables, boost education and not bills that will lead to unemployment.”

Adedibu commended BATN for its CSR initiatives which he said has helped to create wealth in the rural areas of the state, and urged it not to relent. He congratulated the award winners, and assured the farmers of his commitment to fight for their cause at the national assembly.

Speaking in the same vein, the Oyo State Commissioner for Commerce and Cooperatives, Dr. Kola Balogun, commended BATN for creating jobs for the rural population in the state, saying that this has helped in no small way in reducing the rural-urban drift among the population, with the attendant increase in crimes in urban cities. He urged other players in the private sector to emulate the BATN example by establishing bob-creating industries in the rural areas. According to him, the current administration in the state has observed with pleasure the direction of BATN’s policy objectives as they relate to the development objectives of the state government.

He pointed out that the company has never disappointed the state government as it has made major impacts in the areas of employment generation, opening up of rural communities for wealth creation, job skill acquisition, and payment of taxes to the government.

He noted that the company’s community development programme, which is the core thrust of its corporate social responsibility has reduced drastically the rural-urban drift of semi-skilled and unskilled labour, a group that has become a menace to urban cities in terms of an increase in the crime rate.

Balogun commended BATN for the farmers’ award initiative because of its complimentary contents to the objectives of good governance. “The most insightful of this initiative lies in its focus on the grassroots rural population for capacity building through appropriate exposure to modern farming method and technique that is geared towards ensuring high product quality and productivity,” he said, adding that “the process has provided employment to the rural dwellers with its accompanying wealth creation potentials, which also constitutes a deliberate reward approach that recognizes integrity in labour.”

He expressed the support of the government and people of the state to BATN, describing the company as a shinning example to other private sector operators in Nigeria. He also congratulated the winners for demonstrating exceptional skills in their productivity while still operating within the confines of the Growers’ Agreement which frowns upon child labour in tobacco growing activities.

Speaking also, BATN’s Area Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Director, Mr. Alistair Hide said that the Farmers’ Award which was instituted in the 2004 crop season through its 100 per cent owned subsidiary, BATN Iseyin Agronomy, was directed at rewarding tobacco farmers for attaining the criteria set by the company with the objective of delivering an improved yield.

In addition, he said, the award plays an even more important role in facilitating a mutually beneficial relationship between the company and the farmers with a particular emphasis on sustainable social and environmental practices around tobacco growing. The result of the initiative, he disclosed, has been an increase in the income of the farmers. For instance, he said, the farmers’ income in 2008 increased approximately to N526 million from about N494 million in 2007.

During this period, he added, the farmers were encouraged to imbibe the tenets of socially responsible tobacco production which include integrated crop management, soil and water conservation, reducing the use of agrochemicals, observing environmental and safety standards in green leaf threshing, eliminating exploitative child labour, as well as encouraging alternatives to the use of wood in curing and sponsoring and promoting reforestation. He said the company was immensely proud that of all the major tobacco companies, the BAT Group has the closest links to farmers who grow tobacco worldwide, adding that the company trains, advises and supports farmers on all aspects of crop production.

“This is or own little way of complementing the efforts of the federal government to create jobs and alleviate poverty by assisting farmers to achieve livelihood through tobacco and other agricultural cultivation. As partners in progress, this can only get better with time and we are proud in equal measure in associating with the one key programmes of the 7-Point Agenda of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua,” Hide said.