By Àkànní Olúwaségún Michael
A bill seeking to overhaul Nigeria’s excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages has drawn sharply opposing responses from business and public health stakeholders, setting up a charged debate in the House of Representatives where the legislation now awaits a decision on concurrence.
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has urged the House to reject the bill, warning that it poses a direct threat to manufacturing jobs, investor confidence, and industrial output.
On the other hand, the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), a health advocacy group, has backed the Senate’s passage of the legislation, arguing that it reflects growing concern over the rising burden of non-communicable diseases in Nigeria.
The Senate-passed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Bill proposes replacing the current flat-rate excise duty of N10 per litre on sugar-sweetened beverages with a percentage-based levy tied to retail prices, with the specific rate to be determined by the Minister of Finance. Part of the revenue generated would be earmarked for health promotion and disease prevention programmes.
In a statement signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr Muda Yusuf, the CPPE described the bill as “ill-timed, insensitive to prevailing economic realities, and inconsistent with the Federal Government’s commitment to reducing the tax burden on businesses.”
The group argued that the food and beverage sector is too critical to the broader economy to absorb another layer of taxation, noting that the industry carries extensive linkages across agriculture, packaging, logistics, retail trade, hospitality, and distribution. Any additional cost burden, it warned, would raise consumer prices, reduce capacity utilisation, weaken demand, and threaten jobs across the value chain.
“At a time when the economy needs stronger industrial growth, this Senate proposal risks becoming a tax on production, investment and employment,” Dr Yusuf said.
The CPPE also flagged policy inconsistency as a concern, noting that the 2026 fiscal policy framework already contains an excise duty of N10 per litre on non-alcoholic beverages. Introducing fresh legislation on top of that existing framework, it warned, would deepen regulatory uncertainty and send the wrong signal to investors.
CAPPA took the opposite view, commending the Senate for what it described as a bold and timely intervention. The group said nearly one in three deaths in Nigeria is linked to non-communicable diseases, while more than 11 million Nigerians are living with diabetes, placing increasing pressure on families and the public healthcare system.
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria also rejected the proposal, arguing that Nigeria already records the lowest rate of sugar consumption globally at 8.3 million kilogrammes, well below the 22.1 million kilogrammes cited by proponents of the bill. The association called for a win-win approach in reviewing the legislation.
The CPPE, for its part, acknowledged the public health dimension but maintained that sugar taxes deliver limited outcomes on their own. It argued that the major drivers of diabetes and related conditions in Nigeria, including poor dietary habits, physical inactivity, high carbohydrate consumption, and genetic predisposition, cannot adequately be addressed through taxation alone. The group called instead for investment in nutrition education, public health awareness, preventive healthcare systems, and urban infrastructure that supports active living.
The legislative debate gained momentum last year when Senate committees on Finance and Customs held a public hearing on a proposed amendment to the Customs and Excise Tariff (Consolidation) Act, which sought to raise the excise tax from N10 per litre to at least 20 per cent of a product’s retail price, in line with World Health Organisation recommendations.
Figures cited during Senate deliberations showed that approximately 8 per cent of Nigerians are living with diabetes, while around 40 per cent of adults are believed to have hypertension. Nigerians spend an estimated $1.26 billion, equivalent to roughly N1.92 trillion, every year managing non-communicable diseases.
The Senate also expressed concern that Nigeria’s healthcare sector remains underfunded and heavily dependent on out-of-pocket spending, and argued that a retail-price-based levy would provide a more sustainable framework than the current volume-based system.
With the bill now before the House, the CPPE is actively lobbying members to decline concurrence.
“The economy needs relief, not additional taxation; support for production, not policies that weaken enterprise,” Dr Yusuf said.
