The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has urged Nigerian government to increase the tax tariff for Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSB) industries, as part of strategy to checkmating the contents of their products to safeguard public health.
The Executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, stated this during the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on Journalism Training on Tax and Industry Monitoring, held at Bon Hotel, in Kano on Monday.
Oluwafemi, who decried the health damage being done to Nigerians by SSB industries, lamented “the extremely low threshold of the tax,” which he said, has rendered it ineffective, the false narratives of the SSB industry, and the lack of transparency in how the revenue from the tax is expended by the government.
While insisting that government should increase tax for SSB industries, he also insisted that the revenue made from this venture should be channeled into strengthening Nigeria’s health system to ensure adequate healthcare delivery for the citizens.
According to him, the role of increased SSB Tax is to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, and reduce the rate of Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and chronic respiratory disorders etc.
He added that, “the goal of this pro-health policy is to discourage excessive consumption of SSBs reduce Nigerians addiction to sugary drinks, and stem the rise in SSB-fuelled noncommunicable diseases.”
Oluwafemi further lamented that Nigeria was facing escalating public health crisis which is the rise of noncommunicable diseases fuelled, in part, by dietary factors such as the excessive consumption of ultra-processed foods, especially SSBs and high sodium foods.
He said: “Noncommunicable diseases currently account for about 30 per cent of all deaths annually in Nigeria. Noteworthy, is the contributions of the ultra-processed food industry to this crisis.
“Food corporations use a sophisticated Web of marketing strategies to lure Nigerians-especially children and young adults-into consuming ultra-processed foods that damage their health undermine public health policies, and cost the Nigerian healthcare system billions.
“Recognising the problem, the Nigerian government introduced the Sugar Sweetened Beverage (SSB) tax in 2021, imposing a N10 levy per litre on all non-alcoholic, sweetened, and carbonated drinks.
“However, there is a problem -the N10 levy per litre is not enough to curb and checkmate the extent of health damage being perpetrated by the sugar-sweetened beverage industries.”
Deputy Director of NCD’s Risk Factors, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Dorothy Amadi, explained that increased tax on SSB companies would lead to reduction in the quantity of sugary content, thereby saving the lives of Nigerians.
On the other hand, she added, if the tax is increased and the SSB manufacturers decide to also increase the prices of the products without reducing the sugary content, many Nigerians will not afford to buy, which will in turn save them from premature death.
Papers presented during the training by experts indicated that continuous consumption of SSBs will cause people to die before the age of 70, more so as the cost of treatment is exorbitant.
