By RUKAYAT MOISEMHE

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has expressed concern over renewed calls in some quarters for the imposition of additional taxes on sugar-sweetened non-alcoholic beverages in Nigeria.

CPPE Founder, Dr. Muda Yusuf, made this known on Wednesday in Lagos via a statement.

According to Yusuf, while public health challenges such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases warrant urgent attention, the proposition of a sugar-specific tax is misplaced and economically risky.

He said that the call was not adequately contextualised within Nigeria’s prevailing structural, social, and macroeconomic realities.

“Advocacy for sugar taxation in Nigeria is largely driven by externally derived policy templates, particularly those associated with global health institutions.

“However, global best practice does not support sugar taxation as a sustainable or standalone solution to non-communicable diseases, especially in economies characterised by high inflation, weak purchasing power, fragile industrial recovery, and widespread poverty, such as Nigeria,” he said.

Yusuf noted that the country’s food and beverage industry remained the largest and most dynamic segment of the manufacturing sector, with the non-alcoholic beverages sub-sector playing a particularly significant role.

He said data from the National Bureau of Statistics indicated that the food and beverage industry contributed approximately 40 per cent of total manufacturing output, making it a critical driver of industrial growth, employment and value creation.

He added that beyond factory-level operations, the sector sustained an extensive value chain that spans farmers, agro-input suppliers, processors, packaging companies, logistics providers, wholesalers, retailers, and the hospitality industry.

“Collectively, these activities support millions of livelihoods nationwide.

“Any policy that undermines this sector therefore carries wide-ranging economic consequences, including job losses, declining household incomes, reduced investment and setbacks to poverty-reduction efforts,” he said.

The CPPE boss added that manufacturers of non-alcoholic beverages were among the most heavily taxed and cost-pressured businesses in the Nigerian economy.

He listed existing fiscal obligations to include 30 per cent Company Income Tax, 7.5 per cent Value-Added Tax (VAT), N10 per litre excise duty, four per cent National Development Levy on assessable profits.

Others, he said, were four per cent Free on Board levy on imported inputs, import duties of five per cent to 15 per cent on intermediate raw materials, 0.5 per cent ECOWAS levy, property taxes at sub-national levels and multiple state and local government levies.

“These fiscal pressures are further compounded by Nigeria’s challenging operating environment, including high energy costs, prohibitive logistics expenses, exchange-rate volatility, and elevated interest rates.

“The cumulative effect has been rising production costs, shrinking margins, subdued investment appetite, and higher consumer prices,” he said.

Yusuf said available evidence suggested that sugar taxes delivered limited public health benefits unless embedded within broader, long-term lifestyle, behavioural, and structural interventions.

He added that in Nigeria, the rising incidence of diabetes and related non-communicable diseases was driven primarily by poor overall diet quality, particularly carbohydrate-heavy meals, physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles.

Other causes, he observed, included urban design that discouraged walking and cycling, genetic and hereditary factors.

Yusuf said that while taxation may marginally influence consumption patterns, it does not address these root causes.

“Conversely, the economic costs of additional taxation, higher consumer prices, reduced demand, job losses, and weakened industrial investment are immediate, tangible, and potentially severe,” he said.

Yusuf said a more sustainable path to public health outcomes would be for policymakers to prioritise evidence-based, inclusive and development-friendly alternatives.

They include lifestyle and nutrition education, community-based health awareness programmes, promotion of physical activity and exercise, encouragement of fruit and vegetable consumption.

Others, he said, were healthy food subsidies rather than punitive taxation and urban planning that supports walking, cycling and active transportation.

“These measures directly address the underlying drivers of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, deliver broader social benefits, and avoid undermining a critical pillar of Nigeria’s manufacturing and employment base.

“Nigeria’s economy remains in a delicate recovery phase.

“Introducing additional sugar-specific taxes at this time risks reversing recent industrial gains, weakening employment outcomes, and undermining the objectives of ongoing manufacturing-friendly fiscal reforms,” he said. (NAN)