Strengthening tobacco control enforcement in Nigeria: a policy and regulatory analysis supporting an expanded mandate for NAFDAC

Nigeria has adopted comprehensive tobacco control legislation, including the National Tobacco Control Act (NTCA) 2015 and Tobacco Control Regulations 2019, yet continues to experience high tobacco-related morbidity and a substantial illicit cigarette market. Institutional fragmentation and weak enforcement capacity, compounded by evolving obligations under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, undermine effective implementation. A desk-based qualitative policy and regulatory analysis was conducted using three complementary approaches: (1) comparative legal mapping of Nigeria’s tobacco control framework against core WHO FCTC and Illicit Trade Protocol obligations; (2) thematic synthesis of WHO guidance, treaty decisions, and peer-reviewed evidence on institutional arrangements for tobacco regulation; and (3) an implementation-readiness assessment of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) across key capacity domains. The analysis identified five interrelated structural gaps: fragmented institutional authority; absence of a central product regulator; weak supply-chain and illicit trade control; inadequate protection from tobacco industry interference; and a regulatory vacuum for emerging nicotine products. Nigeria’s current ministry-led configuration constrains compliance with WHO FCTC Articles 9, 10, 11, and 15, while NAFDAC already possesses significant laboratory, port-of-entry, and digital traceability capacity developed through pharmaceutical regulation. Reconfiguring Nigeria’s tobacco control architecture to assign NAFDAC a central technical regulatory mandate, while retaining health policy stewardship within the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), offers a legally feasible and context-appropriate pathway to strengthen enforcement, meet evolving treaty expectations, and reduce tobacco-related harms.