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According to the latest weekly poll released by NOIPolls Limited, majority of Nigerians have expressed support for laws that would restrict and regulate tobacco smoking in Nigeria, with more support generally from respondents who have never smoked and least support from respondents who smoke regularly. The Anti-Tobacco Special Edition Poll was conducted in the week of February 17th 2014. Results from the NOI Polls shows that (84%) believe that tobacco smoking has become highly predominant in Nigeria; indicating that this high predominance is observed mainly amongst males (88%) between the ages of 18 to 25 years (47%) and 26 to 40 years (26%). The poll further revealed that the vast majority of those polled (94%) believe that smoking of cigarettes and other tobacco products are very harmful to individuals, while 80% believe passive or second hand smoking pose serious health hazard to non-smokers. Background In the recent times, there has been a global awakening on the adverse effects of tobacco consumption and different countries have risen up to fight against the growing casualty from its consumption. The United States, England and China are some of the countries that have banned smoking in public places. In Nigeria, an example was recently set by the Lagos State House of Assembly, banning smoking in public places in January 2014. The National Tobacco Control Bill was initiated by Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth to regulate the production, sales, marketing and distribution of tobacco products in Nigeria. The bill which also prohibits the sale of cigarettes to minors, smoking in public places and the sale of cigarettes in single sticks is currently awaiting presidential approval. Similarly, the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA); a national coalition of tobacco and cancer control organizations working at the National level for policy shift stated that an Increment in cigarette tax which has been proposed to the Federal government by Health practitioners and tobacco control experts will discourage more smokers, raise state revenue and enable the achievement of public health policy goals such as discouraging the use of tobacco. The first question sought the opinions of Nigerians on the prevalence of tobacco smoking. Respondents were asked: In your opinion, how predominant is tobacco consumption / smoking in Nigeria? The overall majority of respondents (84%) believe that tobacco smoking has become highly predominant in Nigeria, while 15% are of the view that it is somewhat predominant. A meagre 1% indicated that it is not predominant at all. Further analysis, by geo-political zone, indicates that the North-East zone (90%) has the highest proportions of respondents that said it is highly predominant. This is followed by the North-West zone with 65%, while the North-Central zone has the largest proportion of respondents that claim it is somewhat predominant. In order to gauge the tobacco consumption history of respondents, they were asked: Which of the following statements applies to you? (1) I have never smoked tobacco; (2) I used to smoke tobacco but I have given up now; (3) I smoke tobacco sometimes, but I don’t smoke regularly; (4) I smoke tobacco regularly. Findings show that the majority (88%) of the respondents claimed they have never smoked tobacco. This is followed by 7% who claim they used to smoke tobacco but have given up now. A meagre 3% of the respondents indicated they smoke tobacco regularly while 2% claimed they sometimes smoke tobacco but not regularly. Analysis by gender reveals that more females (96%) than male (78%) claim they have they have never smoked tobacco at all. Analysis by the geo-political zone reveals the North East zone has the highest proportion of respondent that smoke tobacco regularly (7%). In addition, the South-South (10%) and the South-West (10%) zones both account for the highest proportion of respondents that used to smoke tobacco but have given it up, while the North-Central and the South-West zones with 4% each account for the highest proportion of respondents that smoke tobacco sometimes but not regularly. Analysis based on the age-group shows that the highest proportion of respondents that used to smoke but have given up and smoke regularly are within the age group of 30-45 years with 12% and 4% respectively. In addition, the highest proportion of Nigerians that smoke tobacco sometimes but not regularly are within the age group of 60 years and above (10%). In order to gauge the predominance of smoking among male Nigerians, respondents were asked: How predominant do you think tobacco consumption/smoking is amongst males and females? Analysis on the predominance of tobacco smoking amongst males and females reveals that an overall majority (88%) of the respondent believe tobacco consumption/smoking is highly predominant amongst males, while 54% say it is somewhat predominant amongst the female Nigerians. Also, 31% of the respondents are of the opinion that tobacco smoking is not predominant at all amongst female Nigerians. Subsequently, respondents were asked: To what extent would you support the law that would restrict or strictly regulate tobacco consumption/cigarette smoking? Overall, the majority of respondents (88%) stated that they would strongly support the law; 4% of the respondents say they would somewhat support and 4% were neutral in their stance. Further analysis across geo-political zones shows that the North-Central zone has the highest proportion of respondents (93%) that affirm they would strongly support the law; this is followed by the North-West zone with 91% and the North-East zone with 90%. Once again, cross analysis of the responses by tobacco consumption history reveals that the largest proportion (92%) of respondents that say they would strongly support the law that will regulate tobacco products are respondents that have never smoked tobacco while the highest proportion (20%) of respondents that say that they would strongly oppose the law are respondents who smoke regularly, however the majority (56%) of regular smokers claim they would support the law. In addition, the highest proportion of respondents who are neutral about the law that would restrict and strictly regulate tobacco consumption and cigarette smoking are respondents who smoke tobacco sometimes but not regularly. Finally, respondents were asked: To what extent would you support or oppose the implementation of the following proposed policies by the government to reduce tobacco use in Nigeria? (a) Prohibiting smoking entirely inside most public places, including all work places, public buildings offices, schools, restaurants and bars. Findings by NOI Polls show that the vast majority of respondents affirm they strongly support the implementation of the policies by the government to “prohibit smoking entirely inside most public places” (92%). Analysis of the support of anti-tobacco policies by tobacco consumption history reveals that the largest proportion of respondents (95%) who say they would strongly support the policy that prohibits smoking entirely inside most public places, are respondents who have never smoked tobacco, while the highest proportion (18%) of respondents who say they would strongly oppose the policy are respondents who smoke regularly. However, the majority (51%) of the regular smokers claim they would support this policy, though this group has the lowest level of support among all groups. Majority of respondents (84%) believe that tobacco smoking is highly predominant in Nigeria, especially amongst males (88%) between the ages of 18 to 25 years (47%) and 26 to 40 years (26%). Also, the vast majority of those polled (94%) believe that smoking of cigarettes and other tobacco products are very harmful to individuals, and have expressed support for laws that would restrict and regulate tobacco smoking in Nigeria (88%).