The Nigerian Federal Government has disclosed that it has begun to implement the N10 per litre sugar tax on carbonated soft drinks and beverages which would aid in fighting non-communicable diseases. This news came regardless of the cries of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria -MAN, pleading for the FG to stop the policy launched in the Finance Act, officially signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on 31st December 2021, together with the 2022 Appropriation Bill.
Mr. Dennis Ituma, the Chief Superintendent of Customs, Department of Excise, Free Trade Zone and Industrial Incentives has confirmed this latest information on Thursday, yesterday at a lively session in Abuja at a Breakfast Meeting. The programme was led by the National Action on Sugar Reduction to brainstorm ways to make the tax and other interventions mandatory in Nigeria in order to reduce consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages -SSBs in the country.
Before in the country, Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, alcoholic drinks & tobacco were all being taxed until the year 2009 when Sugar-Sweetened Beverages was cancelled from beverages that were to be taxed. The N10 per litre of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages tax has begun to be implemented since 1st June, and by 21 July, all tax duties must have been collated and paid into the federal account. The taxation on SSBs has been a Federal Government policy since 1984 but was halted in January of 2009.
