Smokers in public places in Nigeria's capital Abuja will be arrested and prosecuted from June 1, a senior health department official for the federal capital said on Saturday.

"As from tomorrow (June 1), we will begin to arrest and prosecute people who smoke in public places in the entire Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja," said the FCT official.

"We are going to enforce the anti-tobacco act promulgated in 1994. The law enforcement agents have been alerted," said the official who requested anonymity.

At a national level, the federal government has in recent years intensified media campaigning against smoking.

"Smokers are likely to die young," is a popular advertising slogan on radio and television stations.

The advertising of tobacco and tobacco products has also been banned on broadcast and billboard media.

The World Health Organisation said Friday in Geneva that only a total ban on all forms of tobacco advertising can stop the "constantly mutating virus" of the marketing industry and protect vulnerable young people.

May 31 has been designated World No Tobacco Day