
By Linus Aleke
A group under the umbrella of National Action on Sugar Reduction (NASR), has called for increase in sugar-sweetened beverage tax from 10 percent to 30 percent to discourage excessive intake of sugar sweetened products.
NASR is a coalition advocating for policy measures to tackle the health risks of consuming sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs).
In a statement joint signed Signed by the Diabetes Association of Nigeria, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Nigeria Cancer Society and 10 others, expressed plans to further its advocacy towards earmarking revenue generated from the SSB tax.
The Coalition Representative, Ms. Omei Bongos-Ikwue, outlined other key elements for the next phase of the advocacy campaign.
A public health physician and health policy advocate from TalkHealth9ja, Dr. Laz Eze, said, the increase in the tax is a win in itself because the idea behind the tax is to increase the price of the commodity, which will make consumers buy less and therefore reduce consumption.
He, however, highlighted the importance of understanding that there is currently no law that mandates earmarking the funds as a health policy tool.
The statement said: “The Nigerian Customs Service started collection in July 2022. We applauds the government for taking proactive measures towards implementing the tax.
Nigeria’s SSB tax is currently 10-naira per litre. The next phase of the advocacy is to sustain the tax and increase it to a level that will produce a price change impactful enough to discourage excessive SSB consumption. For this reason, we advocate for a 30-naira per litre tax.
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“The next campaign phase will include measures to ensure the earmarking of the funds as a health policy tool, more specifically, by ensuring that funds go towards curbing non-communicable diseases”.
The sugar-sweetened beverage tax, which was introduced in the Finance Act and signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on 31 December 2021, has been fully implemented.