The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, and civil society organizations have endorsed the move by the Nigerian Senate to increase the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax, calling for a shift from the current N10 per litre to a stronger percentage-based system.
The stakeholders spoke during a public hearing in Abuja on Thursday organized by the Senate Joint Committee on Finance, Customs and Excise on a bill to amend the Customs, Excise Tariffs Act.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Ipalibo Harry Banigo, seeks to replace the fixed N10 per litre excise duty on non-alcoholic, carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages with a percentage levy per litre of the retail price and provide for earmarking of revenue for health promotion and disease prevention programmes.
Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire, who represented Senate President Godswill Akpabio, described the bill as important for public health.
“This amendment is not merely fiscal in nature; it is a public health investment strategy that aligns taxation policy with our national health priorities,” Adegbonmire said.
He reinforced support for the bill, stating that the N10 per litre excise is no longer realistic in present-day Nigeria, not only from the value of the naira but more importantly the cost of providing health interventions for health-related challenges.
Prof. Pate and health sector stakeholders told the Senate that Nigeria was experiencing a surge in non-communicable diseases linked to excessive consumption of sugary drinks and unhealthy diets.
They said formerly rare diseases such as diabetes, stroke, obesity and heart diseases are now some of the leading causes of premature death in Nigeria.
The Minister of Finance, Olawale Edun, represented by Bashir Abdulkadir, a Director of Technical Services, said the ministry was aware of the bill and generally aligned with it. However, the ministry drew attention to Section 13 of the Customs, Excise Tariffs Act, saying it empowered the president as the sole authority to vary rates.
The ministry argued it was already working on a comprehensive process that would cover SSBs and alcoholic drinks and urged the Senate to take note.
The Joint Committee asserted its constitutional power to hold public hearings and amend the law, adding that this was a matter of national importance in the interest of public health that Nigerians had been calling for.
The health stakeholders noted that the current N10 per litre tax, which came into effect when the average bottle of SSB was N150, has been eroded by inflation and is too minimal to affect Nigerians’ consumption of sugary drinks and protect public health.
Prof. Pate, backing the amendment with data from the World Health Organization and other global health bodies, urged lawmakers to set the SSB Tax at no less than 20 percent and earmark at least 40 percent of the revenue for public health.
He said it would create a valuable funding stream for Nigeria’s progress toward expanding universal health coverage, citing the Philippines as an example.
Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, urged Nigeria to adopt a strong retail-price-based excise structure by setting the levy at 50 percent of the retail price, with an absolute minimum floor of 20 percent.
“Nigeria can no longer rely on a fixed N10 duty that has lost its value and its purpose. A percentage-based levy that reflects real market prices is the only credible path to restoring the effectiveness of the policy and aligning it with global best practice,” Oluwafemi said.
CAPPA made three recommendations including raising the tax to at least 50 percent of the retail price, earmarking revenues for public health programmes particularly for prevention and management of non-communicable diseases, and establishing a national monitoring and evaluation task force to oversee implementation.
Dr. Mansur Ramalan, Vice President of the Diabetes Society of Nigeria, said the country was experiencing diabetes prevalence that had risen to about seven percent.
He addressed concerns by the Ministry of Finance about possible negative effects on government revenue, saying the reverse was the case and government revenue would increase by 200 percent.
Other organizations that spoke in favor of the amendment included the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Nigerian Cancer Society, National SSB Tax Coalition, Healthy Food Policy Vanguard, Nigerian Tobacco Control Alliance, and Redeemers University.