Stakeholders demand higher taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, sugary drinks

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s health sector have called for higher taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, sugar-sweetened beverages and other harmful products to discourage consumption and generate more revenue for healthcare.

They made the call at a national stakeholders’ inception workshop on “Realising Health Taxes for Sustainable Health Financing and Curbing Non-Communicable Diseases in Nigeria,” held in Abuja.

The workshop was convened by Development Governance International Consult in collaboration with the Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation and the National Health Insurance Authority, with support from the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research.

In a statement issued by the Communication and Knowledge Management Specialist, DGI Consult, Wole Alawode, the stakeholders said Nigeria had made progress in introducing taxes on tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages, but significant gaps remained in tax rates, structures, implementation, enforcement and the use of revenue for health.

He said strengthening health taxes could help address two major challenges simultaneously: Reducing the consumption of products linked to non-communicable diseases and mobilising additional domestic resources for healthcare.

Dr Kelechi Ohiri, who represented the director-general of the NHIA, Dr Kurfi Abubakar, said significant work had already been done to advance health taxes in the country, particularly the tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.

Abubakar added that the new task team would build on existing evidence and initiatives rather than duplicate them.

He said; “This is not to duplicate or replicate existing efforts but to harmonise and work with them so that we can bring in additional evidence, ensure coordination and implementation in that direction so that we can move faster and translate the progress already achieved into lasting policy and health financing results.”