CAPPA raises alarm over surge in vapes, nicotine pouches

Public health advocates have raised the alarm over the rapid spread of new-generation nicotine products in Nigeria, warning that regulatory gaps are exposing young people to addiction and undermining hard-won tobacco control gains.

The warning came on Thursday in Lagos at the launch of a report titled New Smoke Trap: New and Emerging Nicotine and Tobacco Products, Youth Exposure and Policy Gaps in Nigeria, published by Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA.

Speaking at the event, CAPPA Executive Director Akinbode Oluwafemi said the country was witnessing a significant shift in nicotine delivery systems, with e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products becoming increasingly visible in supermarkets, lounges and across digital platforms.

“The products under examination include e-cigarettes commonly known as vapes, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products, all of which are now highly visible in supermarkets, embedded in nightlife environments, and aggressively promoted across digital platforms that are disproportionately accessed by young people,” he said.

Oluwafemi noted that while Nigeria had made progress through the National Tobacco Control Act 2015 and the 2019 Regulations, those laws were designed primarily to address combustible tobacco products.

“That framework continues to serve a critical purpose, particularly with respect to traditional products like cigarettes. However, it was created to deal with one specific way of delivering nicotine through the burning of tobacco leaves,” he said. “The rules inevitably encounter strain when confronted with products that are engineered to sit at the margins of existing definitions.”

He accused the tobacco industry of rebranding addiction as innovation in response to growing global regulation and social stigma around smoking.

“These devices are sleek in design, flavoured in ways that appeal to youth sensibilities, and marketed through youth-populated digital ecosystems. Yet beneath the aesthetics lies the same addictive substance that has anchored tobacco profits for over a century. Nicotine remains the central commodity,” he said.

Oluwafemi stressed that synthetic nicotine was “pharmacologically identical” to tobacco-derived nicotine and equally addictive, warning that high-dose exposure posed serious risks to adolescents whose brains are still developing.

Presenting the findings, researchers Zikora Ibeh and Olamide Martins Ogunlade said the study combined physical retail monitoring, digital tracking and user surveys conducted between October and December 2025 in Lagos, Enugu and the Federal Capital Territory.

“We documented 781 nicotine and tobacco-related products, of which 573 fall within the category of new and emerging nicotine and tobacco products,” Ibeh said.

According to the report, e-cigarettes accounted for 522 documented variants, making them the dominant product category. Nicotine pouches, though less visible in physical stores, were proliferating online, with 38 products identified. Thirteen heated tobacco products were also recorded, suggesting what the researchers described as early-stage market testing.

Field monitors observed that many products were marketed in bright colours and gadget-like designs, with printed puff counts ranging from 600 to 50,000. Prices varied widely, creating low-cost entry points for experimentation alongside premium tiers for heavier users.

“Users frequently begin with disposable devices and later move to refillable systems as nicotine dependence intensifies,” Ogunlade said, citing accounts from informants aged 18 to 25.

The report also highlighted initiation patterns among young people who had never previously smoked.

“These products are entry points, not exit ramps,” Ogunlade said, challenging the industry narrative that such devices primarily serve as cessation tools for adult smokers.

The researchers warned that nicotine pouches were often marketed as “tobacco-free” and suitable for use anywhere because they are smokeless and odourless, even in workplaces and public gatherings. Some brands failed to display nicotine levels on packaging while advertising high strengths online.

On regulation, the report identified definitional gaps in the National Tobacco Control Act, which focuses largely on tobacco leaf content. As a result, products containing synthetic nicotine do not always fall neatly within existing restrictions on advertising, taxation and smoke-free environments.

“Our existing tobacco control framework was constructed around combustible tobacco leaf products and does not adequately anticipate or address modern nicotine delivery systems,” Oluwafemi said.

He warned against adopting the so-called “Quit Like Sweden” narrative, which attributes Sweden’s low smoking rates to alternative nicotine products.

“To extract one variable and import it into Nigeria without replicating the institutional conditions that accompanied it is analytically unsound,” he said, noting that Sweden’s success was driven largely by sustained taxation, advertising bans and comprehensive smoke-free laws.

Professor Lekan Ayo-Yusuf of the Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research said Nigeria had a strategic advantage because it was confronting the products early.

“The global lesson is straightforward. Anticipatory regulation protects populations. Delayed regulation protects markets and institutionalises nicotine dependence,” he said.

He urged regulators to focus on nicotine as the addictive substance rather than on whether a product contains tobacco leaf.

“Regulate nicotine, not just tobacco products,” Ayo-Yusuf said. “If these products are presented as cessation aids and safe or reduced harm, they should be tested and regulated as medicine.”

The report recommends extending regulatory coverage to all nicotine products regardless of form, integrating emerging products into the excise tax framework, strengthening digital advertising controls, and improving cross-agency coordination.