In most business schools and development economics classes around the world, Nigeria is used as a textbook case of “resource curse”. With more than USD 1 trillion earned from oil revenue since inception, the country is still ranked high in major underdevelopment indicators such as poverty, infant and maternal mortality among others. A comparative analysis of resource-rich countries, however, indicates that development outcomes hinge not strongly on the resource endowment per se, but crucially on effective management and governance of the resource.

Sustained political will among government and non-state actors in the policy space has been responsible for the recorded success at the federal level in the implementation of tobacco control policies. In addition, a few states have demonstrated substantial political will by enacting laws on the prohibition of smoking in public places. Given that majority of states are not politically motivated to adopt tobacco control measures, we seek to provide an understanding of what constitutes political will in Nigeria. In view of the concerns around the implementation of tobacco control policies, we also examine the factors that influence political will in order to leverage on positive forces and curb negative forces within the policy environment.

Nigerian tobacco industry operates within an oligopolistic market structure, with BAT owning 79% of market brands, which allows for price differentiation across brands. However, price variations are also observed between the same brand both within and across regions, which suggests non-market factors could also contribute to the variability. For instance, the sale of cigarettes in sticks and the significant distance between production hubs and retail points, which generates asymmetric information, transportation cost and opportunity for arbitrage.