CAPPA Warns Nigerians About The Dangers Of Burna Boy’s Vape Deal 

The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has disclosed that the business collaboration between Grammy Award-winning artiste, Burna Boy’s Company, BrkFst and Aspire North America, LLC, a subsidiary of Inspire Technology Inc. will engender an aggressive marketing of Cannabis in Nigeria.

Burna Boy’s company has reportedly collaborated with the Aspire North America for the manufacturing and distribution of Vaping Product in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Europe.

In a recent statement released on its website, CAPPA revealed that the BrkFst brand has the tendency to promote cannabis and fashion culture, noting that Nigeria presently classifies cannabis as illicit substance owing to its capacity to worsen the country’s challenges with drug proliferation, abuse and narco-terrorism.

It warned that the business deal between the two companies may likely engender aggressive marketing of cannabis vaping and e-cigarettes, including vape pens, e-hookahs, JUULs, and other electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), which will further worsen the nation’s Non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs) burden.

In the words of CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi:

“We are really disappointed that Burna Boy rather than promote healthy lifestyles and noble causes among the youth, has chosen to throw his influence behind habits that cause dangerous health consequences.

“The vape deal is one of the strategies by the tobacco and related industries to use social and cultural influencers like Burna Boy to create the impression that vaping is safe, especially among young, upwardly mobile Nigerians.”

CAPPA further noted that vapes are banned in no fewer than 34 countries. Some others including the United States and China, which permit vapes, impose heavy regulations on their use.

In January, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced plans to ban disposable vapes in yhe United Kingdom to protect children’s health and discourage its rising use among teenagers.

Oluwafemi criticized the tobacco industry’s relentless efforts to make its products appealing to vulnerable groups by producing e-cigarettes in a variety of attractive colours and flavours and using socialites to promote them.

He argued that despite claims that e-cigarettes contain fewer of the over 7,000 toxic chemicals found in smoke from regular cigarettes, aerosols from e-cigarettes still contain harmful and potentially dangerous substances, including nicotine, volatile organic compounds, heavy metals like lead, and carcinogens.