Tag: Smoking

30-Day Challenge: Tekno to quit smoking, if…

Nigerian singer and songwriter, Augustine Miles Kelechi, aka Tekno, has revealed that a 30-day challenge of no smoking would determine if he will quit it.

He explained his difficulty sleeping a day after quitting marijuana.

The music star shared via social media that he was going to endeavor to quit smoking marijuana for 30 days.

After his first day, Tekno takes to his official social media page, where he shared an update with his fans, who had been curious to hear from him.

While speaking, he shared that it was hard for him to sleep after he stayed away for only a day.

Tekno further shared that if he can achieve his 30-day challenge, he will then decide if he wants to quit smoking totally or not.

TheNewsGuru.com reports that Tekno had put himself at the back for overcoming his chronic smoking habit that nearly took his life.

Recall that few years back, Tekno nearly died after being hospitalized for excessive smoking. He now aspires to live a clean life.

Tekno was first signed under K-Money Entertainment. His breakout single titled “Holiday”, was released under the imprint. With featured vocals from Davido, “Holiday” was positively accepted and gained massive airplay.

In 2012, Tekno was spotted by renowned Nigerian comedian Julius Agwu at an event in Abuja, after Tekno Miles received a standing ovation following the performance of a song titled “Onye Ne Kwu”, his remix of Ice Prince’s “Oleku”. It was at the same event he met Iyanya and Ubi Franklyn, the manager of Made Men Music Group and they became friends. Ubi and Iyanya eventually encouraged Tekno Miles to move to Lagos to further his music career.

On 5 October 2013, he signed a recording contract with Made Men Music Group (MMMG), under which he released singles like “Dance” and “Anything”. These singles earned him a nomination in the “Best New act of the Year” category at the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards.

On 18 June 2015, Tekno released his hit single titled “Duro”, which was produced by DJ Coublon. “Duro” was positively received both in Africa and in the US.[9] A remix which featured Phyno and Flavour N’abania was released on 16 November 2015. It topped several charts in Nigeria and on the international scene, it peaked at number 5 on Capital XTRA’s Afrobeats Chart: Top 10 for September 2015.

On 20 November 2015, Tekno released a single titled “Wash”. The song was produced by DJ Coublon with the video directed by AJE Filmworks. On 27 December 2016, Tekno was named one of the top ten hip-hop and R&B talents to watch in the United States in 2017 by Billboard.

In 2016, Elton John played Tekno song titled ‘Diana’ on one of his episode of Rocket Hour radio show on Apple Music.

However, On 13 October 2017 Tekno was featured by DJ Cuppy on a song titled Green Light, which was officially DJ Cuppy’s first single.

On 12 December 2017,[ American rapper, Drake, posted images of himself with Tekno to his Instagram page, captioning them, “Tekkk time.”

On 22 July 2022 Kizz Daniel and Tekno expresses dissatisfaction after Google named ‘Buga’ No 1 song in Nigeria.

On 10 August 2018, American singer Ciara, has teamed up with Tekno, for a collaboration titled “Freak Me.” Tekno announced the song’s release and revealed the cover art on his Instagram account @teknoofficial on Friday.

On 15 August 2019, Tekno was announced as one of the producers of ‘Won’t Be Late’ by Swae Lee featuring Drake

In June 2018, Tekno signed a distribution deal with Universal Music Group Nigeria (UMGN), a division of Universal Music Group in charge of West Africa, as well as the UK-based Island Records. In July 2019, Tekno was featured on Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack on the song “Don’t Jealous Me”.

In 6 December 2020, Tekno released the tracklist for his long-awaited debut album, Old Romance. In 2022, he featured in Kizz Daniel’s ‘Buga’, a track that became the No. 1 shazamed tune within the same year. Also, within the same year, Davido revealed how Tekno had assisted in reviving his career at a very crucial moment when he needed fresh inspiration.

October 5, 2022
Video: Nigerian artiste kizz Daniel quits smoking, warns against it

Famous Nigerian artiste Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe, popularly known as Kizz Daniel has announced he has stopped smoking.

Kizz Daniel made this known in a video posted on his verified Instagram page on Sunday.

The singer, who recently welcomed triplet boys with his lover, announced that he is taking the decision on his birthday for the sake of his children.

“To celebrate my birthday and for the sake of my kids and people who genuinely love me, I quit smoking.” He wrote

Recall that the singer welcomed his triplet boys Jamal, Jalil and Jelani, sometime in May but unfortunately one of them died.

May 1, 2022
NFVCB, film makers, stakeholders begin move to ban smoking in movies

The National Film and Video Censors Board ( NFVCB) has commenced engagement with practitioners and stakeholders in the movie and entertainment industry to enforce the law banning smoking in movies.

Mr Adedayo Thomas, Executive Director (ED), NFVCB, made this known on Saturday while presenting a communique at the end of the entertainment industry stakeholders’ roundtable in Lagos.

The roundtable focused on the National Tobacco Control Act 2015 and the National Tobacco Control Regulations 2019 in Lagos, as they relate the movie and entertainment industry, generally.

Thomas said that the engagement is geared towards ensuring that practitioners in the movie industry adhered to no-smoking laws in Nigerian movies, among other relevant laws of the country.

The meeting was hosted by NFVCB with technical support from Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA).

The NFVCB boss noted that the board and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture were worried about the growing evidence linking the entertainment industry with the increasing tobacco use and its impact on public health.

He stated that NFVCB prioritised classification of movies with smoking scenes and tobacco depiction and would ensure these were fully enforced.

Thomas said the existing national legislation does not sufficiently capture the emerging alternative products of tobacco, such as E-cigarettes, Shisha, among others.

He advised the National Assembly, Ministry of Health and other relevant authorities to involve the movie industry players in their engagement so as to be on the same page in the implementation of the legislation.

He said “stakeholders observed that smoking in movies and the entertainment sector is a pathway to young people embracing smoking.

“The tobacco industry uses sophisticated marketing mix to promote smoking on set and in the entertainment sector.

“Entertainment stakeholders are deliberately targeted by the tobacco industry either through financial inducement, misinformation, and other subtle approaches to further the glamorisation of smoking in the movies and entertainment sector.

“Awareness on the dangers of smoking in movies and the entertainment sector in the digital media space is still low,” he said.

According to him, NFVCB would escalate its awareness creation and education among relevant stakeholders in the movies and entertainment sectors to ensure compliance with national laws.

He cited the NTC Act 2015 and the NTC Regulations 2019 in relation to the ban on tobacco advertising promotion and sponsorships.

He promised that the NFVCB would continue to work with relevant stakeholders to put in place adequate measures to ensure that the environment remains conducive to grow the film industry.

The ED noted that NFVCB would sustain its engagement and consultation with relevant stakeholders in the movie and entertainment sector to ensure that film classifications are appropriate and up to date.

The NFVCB boss requested that the board and movie practitioners be represented in the oprationalisation of the Tobacco Control Fund .

He said this will open opportunities for movies and entertainment sector operators to play crucial roles in awareness creation and sensitisation in relation to smoking in movies.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was attended by regulators, public health tobacco control experts, movie producers, script writers, distributors and exhibitors.

Veteran as well as young actors and actresses were also present to brainstorm on the prevalence of smoking scenes in movies.

December 11, 2021
Your smoking, drinking caused our breakup— Kpokpogri fires back at Tonto Dikeh

Prince Kpokpogri, the ex-lover of Tonto Dikeh, has said that heavy drinking and smoking by the star actress caused their breakup.

TheNewsGuru reports that the politician and Dikeh have been at loggerheads on social media after their relationship turned acerbic.

They had both accused each other of cheating, with a series of leaked audios surfacing online to back their claims.

On Thursday, Dikeh had called out Kpokpogri over allegations of extortion, blackmail, and recording of intimate moments with the women he has dated.

She said she decided to end her relationship with the politician over the allegations.

In his reaction to Dikeh’s claims, Kpokpogri alleged that he called it quits with the actress due to her smoking and drinking habits.

“Knowing you was pleasurable. It will be a disservice to the institution called love if I say it was a regret knowing you as it wasn’t. Did I love you? Absolutely yes. In your weaknesses and vulnerability, I still loved you,” he wrote.

“I gave you the chance to be yourself irrespective of the negative impression I was given about you.

“Despite warnings by political and corporate friends to be careful while dating you, I opened up my heart to you.

“Apart from love and care expected of you as a lover, you had nothing to give me. You gave me a refurbished Hilux on my birthday without a single car paper, not even the custom paper or receipts showing it was bought.

“I returned it back to you. It took the intervention of your friend and my friend for me to grudgingly take it back.

“Countless times, I complained to our mutual friends of how tired I was due to your heavy smoking and drinking. I made it clear I was going to walk away if it continued yet you never stopped or made effort.”

Kpokpogri also said that he had ended the relationship long before a leaked voice note she spoke of was released.

He alleged that Dikeh collaborated with bloggers who already reached out to her for the leaked audio before their ultimate breakup.

“I’m ready to foot the NDLEA cost to test if you never abused hard smoking and heavy drinking. If found to be false, I will waive my right to trial for one year. This was what broke us up and not an aftermath voice note,” he said.

September 23, 2021
Kano bans smoking in public places

Kano State Government has banned smoking in public places to fight the tobacco epidemic as Nigeria estimates more than 16,100 annual death from tobacco-related diseases.

In an effort to protect future generations and improve the health status of the people in Kano, the state government said it has committed a lot of resources to the control of non-communicable diseases in the state such as hypertension, sickle cell diseases, asthma, and tobacco-related lung diseases such as cancers among others.

During a press briefing held on Monday at Kano Ministry of Health to commemorate the World NO Tobacco Day (WNTD), the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Aminu Ibrahim Tsanyawa disclosed that the state government is working tirelessly to reduce the number of smokers and rate of smoking in the state.

“We have an act that specifically talks about the ban of smoking in public places and to also stop the selling of it to children less than 18 years. Also, the Government will keep sensitizing the public to understand the risk of smoking and why they should quit smoking”, he said.

The commissioner added that there is currently a bill before the State House of Assembly to establish an agency to be called “Drug Abuse Control Agency” which will be saddled with ensuring that the rate of drug abuse is reduced in the state.

Tsanyawa added that the state government will soon establish the agency to work hand in hand with other stakeholders to control drug abuse in the state because tobacco is the major risk factor for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) which is also associated with a higher risk of developing severe Covid-19 outcomes and death.

In line with the theme of this year’s event “Commit to Quit”, the Government in collaboration with World Health Organziation (WHO) and Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) has provided a helpline number: +41798931892 for smokers who want to quit smoking.

May 31, 2021
Over 28,000 Nigerians die annually from Tobacco related diseases

Abuja-based Centre for the Study of Economies of Africa (CSEA) has reported that a research it conducted had revealed that 28,876 deaths related to tobacco smoking are recorded annually in Nigeria.

Mr Marco Castradori, a Research Associate with the CSEA, revealed this, on Monday, in Kano, at the report dissemination workshop on the health burden and economic cost of smoking in Nigeria.

According to Castradori, the number represents around 16 per cent of deaths from smoking-related diseases and above five per cent of all cases of deaths.

“Among the disease analysed, nearly 737,366 events are expected each year, of which 127,859 representing 17 per cent are attributable to cigarette consumption.

“In terms of costs, these conditions burden the Nigerian healthcare system with nearly N634 billion, of which 526.4 billion, representing 83 per cent are smoking-attributable treatment costs.

“Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) represents the top cause of smoking-attributable mortality with 29 per cent, followed by Ischemic heart disease with 17.5 per cent, stroke with 13 per cent.

“Other diseases include; passive smoking, 11.5 per cent, lower respiratory tract infection 11 per cent, and also cardiovascular deaths of non-ischemic cause 5.5 per cent,’’ he said.

He explained that smoking generates a direct annual treatment cost of N526.45 billion, which, he said, was equivalent to 0.36 per cent of the Nigerian GDP in 2019, and 9.63 per cent of the country’s annual healthcare spending.

“Furthermore, adding up productivity losses due to illness, early deaths and informal caregiver, tobacco related diseases represents 0.44 per cent of the GDP,’’ according to Castradori.

He added that the research had suggested that if the price of tobacco cigarettes were to be raised, by 50 per cent, the 23,838 deaths from the smoking-attributable diseases would be averted in 10 years.

He said this would lead to subsequent savings on healthcare costs with increased tax revenue.

“In Nigeria, the tobacco tax collection does not currently fully cover the direct healthcare costs attributed to smoking. We also supplement the quantitative analysis through focus group discussions with smokers across six Nigeria’s geopolitical zones.

“Five major key themes emanated from the discussions with the participants include; psychological effect, stigmatisation, reduced productivity, fall in standard of living and change in physical health.

“Overall, the result underscores the need for broader tobacco control policies in Nigeria through more tobacco taxes and other supplementary measures,’’ he said.

Also, in her presentation, tagged ‘Effective tobacco control regulation in Nigeria: Assessment of Tobacco Taxation and illicit trade’, another research associate, Faiza Muntaka said the pervasiveness of illicit tobacco products also represents a severe cost for the development efforts of the government.

“This pervasiveness of illicit tobacco products not only harms the health of consumers by stimulating greater consumption of lower standard goods at affordable prices, but also represents a severe cost for the development efforts of the government.

“A significant tax revenue reduction, approximated in the range of N12 billion, the loss of national productivity associated with morbidity and the increased healthcare costs all compound to pose a significant barrier to Nigeria’s development.

“However, we must make it clear that the issue of the illicit market does not in itself justify the suboptimal regulation of the tobacco industry in Nigeria.

February 8, 2021
Cannabis use during pregnancy may lead to psychotic-like behaviour in kids-Research

A study on the use of weed among pregnant women has revealed that such a habit may increase the possibility of psychotic-like behaviors in children when they are born.

Published on Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, the study analyzed data on 11,489 children who were followed as part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study.

ABCD is said to be the “largest long-term study of brain development and child health” in the US. Children’s cognitive and behaviour patterns were evaluated in middle childhood, around age nine.

Among the partakers, 655 children were exposed to cannabis in utero, according to statements from the mothers unlike the 10,834 children, whose mothers reported no exposure.

Children whose mothers had used weed during pregnancy were more likely to have psychotic-like behaviors and more attention, social, and sleep problems, as well as weaker cognitive abilities.

In their findings, the specialists stated that prenatal cannabis exposure and its correlated factors are associated with greater risk for psychopathology during the middle childhood of infants involved.

“Use of cannabis despite knowledge of pregnancy might represent a preexisting and more severe form of cannabis use,” the authors wrote.

According to the scholars, if the woman continued to use cannabis after she discovered her pregnancy, the effects became more pronounced and stayed after adjusting for confounding variables.

They added that cannabis use during pregnancy should be discouraged.

September 24, 2020
Szczesny reveals truth behind his fall at Arsenal

Wojciech Szczesny has revealed the truth behind the time he was caught smoking after what proved to be the final Premier League appearance of his Arsenal career.

Szczesny lit up in the showers after a 2-0 defeat at Southampton on New Year’s Day and he was subsequently fined and dropped by then-manager Arsene Wenger as a result.

The Poland international insists there was no major row with Wenger about the incident, but Szczesny’s only further appearances that season came in the FA Cup.

The 30-year-old then spent two years on loan at Roma before joining Juventus in a permanent deal in the summer of 2017, and Szczesny has detailed the incident which led to him going from Arsenal’s first-choice keeper to eventually leaving Emirates Stadium.

“Back at that time I was smoking regularly and the boss knew it very well,” Szczesny told the Arsenal Nation podcast. “He just didn’t want anybody smoking in the dressing rooms and I knew that also.

“Because of the emotion of the game, I had a cigarette after the game when the team was still in. I went in the corner of the showers, so it was at the other end of the dressing room and nobody could see me, and I lit one up.

“Somebody saw me, it wasn’t even the boss himself, and just reported it back to the boss. I saw him a couple of days later, he asked me if that was true and I said, ‘yes’. He fined me and that was the end of it.

Goal

April 27, 2020
I have conquered my dirty smoking habit – Tekno declares

Afrobeats singer, Augustine Miles Kelechi, popularly known as Tekno, has revealed that he has finally conquered his addictive smoking habit.

The talented singer took to Twitter on Saturday to announce that he has “finally conquered dirty smoking habit”.

Congrats to me, finally conquered this dirty smoking habit

— TEKNOOFFICIAL (@alhajitekno) February 8, 2020

TheNewsGuru recalls that Tekno made a similar announcement in November last year when he said he had stopped smoking weed

It was unclear if he was referring to weed or cigarettes in his tweet.

He joins artistes like Don Jazzy, Davido and Peruzzi who have announced their intentions to quit smoking.

In 2019, Tekno put out a new single dubbed ‘Skeletun’ — shortly after the release of ‘Agege‘ and ‘Better (Hope for Africa)’.

The track, comes following his protracted hiatus from the music scene on account of his health.

‘Skeletun’, the video potentially introduces a new dance move and sees Tekno croon about splendour of African women while eulogizing his love interest and being flanked by a bevy of racily dressed ladies covered in brown mud.

February 8, 2020
Don Jazzy celebrates twelve month of quitting smoking

….As Davido vows to do same

Nigerian music producer Don Jazzy on September 24, 2018, quit smoking after indulging in the habit for several years.

A year after quitting his smoking habit, Don Jazzy took to his Twitter to announce that he has kept to his promise. “Today makes it one year since I quit smoking. Clap for me pls ? hehe,” he tweeted.

When a fan asked how he was able to quit smoking and not return to the habit, Don Jazzy responded writing, “I just stopped like that o. Cold turkey. Tho I started overeating sha. After like 2 months you will be aiight.”

In the same vein, Davido has also vowed to stop smoking hours after Don Jazzy marked one year of not smoking.

The singer arrived at the city of Los Angeles, California in the United States of America when he made the announcement.

On his Instagram stories published on Wednesday, September 25, 2019, Davido posted a short video of himself holding a pack of Malboro cigarettes with the caption, ‘Quitting soon’.

September 25, 2019