Ojude Oba Festival: CAPPA Calls for Ban on Smoking and Tobacco Advertisements
Ojude Oba Festival: CAPPA Calls for Ban on Smoking and Tobacco Advertisements
Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has called on Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, the Awujale of Ijebuland, to declare the Ojude Oba festival a smoke-free event to promote public health.
In a statement released on Friday, CAPPA appealed to the Awujale and the Organising Committee of the 2025 Ojude Oba festival to ban smoking, the promotion of tobacco products, and tobacco advertisements throughout the festival grounds. They also urged the establishment of designated health stations where volunteers can educate attendees about the dangers of smoking and vaping.
This year’s Ojude Oba festival, themed “Ojude Oba: Celebrating Our Roots, Preserving Our Future,” will be held on Sunday at the Dipo Dina International Stadium in Ijebu Ode
Each year, the festival attracts hundreds of thousands of participants and tourists, as well as global attention and media.
CAPPA tasked the revered monarch and the Ojude Oba organising committee to prevent the tobacco industry from using the event to target individuals and vulnerable groups with its products of death and disease.
It said: “With this spotlight comes responsibility. Your Majesty and the Committee may recall that during last year’s Ojude Oba festival which featured many colourful appearances, a notable occurrence involved cancer survivor Mr. Farooq Oreagba smoking on horseback. This image which circulated widely, was also seized by the tobacco industry to frame and promote smoking as fashionable, and a cultural norm.
“Unfortunately, such portrayals of ‘smoking as a cool indulgence’ risk overshadowing the cultural significance of Ojude Oba and inadvertently endorsing harmful behaviours. This is true because medical evidence and the experiences of addicted victims make it clear that there is nothing good about smoking. Even secondhand inhalation kills. Tobacco consumption is a leading cause of preventable cancers, respiratory disorders, and cardiovascular illnesses, and it places families and young people at grave risk.”
According to the NGO, it is in recognition of these harms that Nigeria enacted the National Tobacco Control Act in 2015, which bans any form of tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship (TAPS), prohibits the sale of cigarettes to minors, and forbids smoking in public places, amongst other measures to safeguard public health. Additionally, the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) issued regulations in 2024 requiring that no film or video content exhibited or distributed in Nigeria may portray tobacco use without an accompanying health warning—ensuring that our cultural productions also uphold public health standards.
Fortunately, this year’s Ojude Oba festival coincides closely with World No Tobacco Day, a global event that highlights the risks of smoking, exposes the strategies of the tobacco industry, and encourages healthier lifestyles.
