Federal Ministry of Health has stated its commitment to increase the tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) from the current rate of 10 percent to 20 percent.
Dr. Chukwuma Anyaike, the Director/Head, Public Health Department, Federal Ministry of Health, disclosed this at the Pro-Health Tax Policy Campaign on SSB, held at the Federal Ministries of Finance and Health, respectively, on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to Anyaike, “taxation on SSBS has been successfully implemented in countries like Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, and so many others to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks.
“The introduction and sustenance of the tax in Nigeria will also reduce excess consumption of SSBS and thus reduce the burden of NCDs. We are committed to attaining the global best practice of at least 20% of the final retail price on all SSBS, as the current 10 naira per liter price fails to achieve that. This campaign aligns with other government efforts to improve the public health of the Nigerian populace to meet the global priority of significantly reducing NCDs”.
Speaking at the event, Edozie Chukwuma, a representative of the National Action and Sugar Reduction Coalition (NASR), stated that the campaign aims to sensitize the general public, policymakers, and concerned government authorities on the dangers associated with the consumption of SSB.
He emphasized the need for the current administration to increase the SSB tax as part of an effort to discourage patronage of sweetened products.
“Basically, we’re calling on the government to enact laws to put together a tax that prohibits or that would, in the end, reduce the consumption of sugary drinks, and how will this tax work? It simply works by increasing the affordability of sugary drinks, thereby providing revenue that could be used to support healthcare, especially with regard to the non-communicable disease burden in the country. It is an epidemic, and it needs to be addressed. Out-of-pocket payments are at an all-time high, with over 75% of Nigerians paying from their pockets for treatment of different ailments”, he said.
Speaking to journalists during the campaign, a person with diabetes, Dr. Peter Agada, advised Nigerians to stay off carbonated drinks, stating that the cost of purchasing those products is cheap but the cost of treating diabetes is more.
He urged the Federal Government, as a matter of urgency, to subsidize the cost of diabetes management, including medications and monitoring devices, to reduce preventable deaths.
He said: “If there’s anything the government can do, things like making the health insurance scheme easily available to people that are non-government like myself, I’m not in the government. I don’t work in the public sector. But I don’t have an NHIS, for example. I know that there are several people now providing that service, but it’s not easily available to the majority of people.
“So more education, more sensitization, and more information on that will be helpful. Granting more approvals to private practitioners in the health insurance system can also help. And then if there’s a way the government, through its various agencies, can make diabetic drugs cheaper, It’s also something that can really, really help.
“One out of 17 Nigerians is living with diabetes or pre-diabetes and is going to become diabetic very, very soon. Okay, so this is a pandemic, and diabetes is a killer disease. We’re not looking at it that way. It’s destroying lives all over the world right now. People are losing their limbs, their eyes, and all kinds of other things. So, it’s something that makes you really wake up and take it very seriously.”
