The National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) has urged the House of Representatives to reject the proposed modification to Nigeria’s soft drinks tax, warning that it may lead to manufacturing facility closures, job losses and additional challenges for the manufacturing sector.
The attraction was contained in an open letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and co-signed by the union’s President, Garba Dankama.
The proposed laws, often called the Customs, Excise Tariff, and so on. (Consolidation) Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025, handed its third studying within the Senate on June 4, 2026, and is at the moment awaiting concurrence by the House of Representatives.
Union warns of manufacturing facility closures
Dankama expressed concern over the deteriorating working circumstances in Nigeria’s manufacturing sector, noting that prime borrowing prices, rising power and logistics bills, international change constraints and declining client buying energy have compelled a number of producers to cut back manufacturing or shut down operations.
He warned that introducing an extra tax burden on the non-alcoholic drinks (NAD) sector might worsen the state of affairs, given its intensive linkages with agriculture, transportation, distribution and retail.
- “The NAD sector, which anchors hundreds of thousands of jobs across farming, haulage, distribution, and retail, cannot absorb an additional tax escalation without triggering a wave of further closures, retrenchments, and value chain collapse,” he said.
The union president additionally questioned the potential public well being advantages of the proposed tax, arguing that soft drinks account for a comparatively small proportion of Nigerians’ complete sugar consumption.
He maintained that rising taxes on the merchandise might encourage shoppers to change to cheaper, unregulated alternate options whereas threatening employment throughout the trade’s worth chain.
- “Taxing a product category that contributes only 5% of national sugar intake will not yield real public health benefits. It will simply push consumers toward cheaper, unregulated alternatives, while destroying the livelihoods of over a million Nigerians who have already borne the brunt of recent economic reforms,” he added.
Dankama additional argued that workers’ earnings have failed to maintain tempo with rising transportation, meals and housing prices following the Federal Government’s gasoline subsidy removing and international change reforms.
Proposed invoice targets soft drinks taxation
The Customs, Excise Tariff, and so on. (Consolidation) Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025, seeks to exchange the present fastened excise obligation of N10 per litre on sugar-sweetened drinks with a percentage-based levy calculated on their retail prices.
- Under the proposed framework, the tax would now not rely solely on the quantity of drinks produced however would additionally replicate their retail worth, with the relevant charge decided by the Minister of Finance.
- The invoice proposes allocating a part of the income generated to public well being interventions, together with illness prevention, well being promotion and major healthcare companies.
It additionally seeks to present funding for medical insurance protection for weak Nigerians.
- However, producers and different enterprise stakeholders have opposed the proposal over considerations about its potential impression on manufacturing prices, funding and client costs.
In unique interviews with Nairametrics, trade stakeholders, together with the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), raised concerns about the proposed changes.
They argued that changing the present fastened levy with a percentage-based tax might enhance manufacturing prices, discourage funding and place extra stress on producers already dealing with troublesome working circumstances.
Rising illness burden drives tax proposal
The proposed modification to Nigeria’s soft drinks tax is aimed toward decreasing the rising burden of non-communicable ailments (NCDs), together with diabetes, weight problems, hypertension and cardiovascular ailments, which well being consultants have linked to unhealthy diets and extreme sugar consumption.
- According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the 10 leading causes of death accounted for 33 million fatalities in 2023, representing 54% of the 61 million deaths recorded globally in the course of the yr.
- Eight of those 10 main causes had been non-communicable ailments, accounting for 47% of all international deaths and 88% of deaths among the many 10 main causes.
- In April 2026, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare disclosed that roughly 8% of Nigerians had been dwelling with diabetes, equal to about 18 million folks based mostly on the nation’s estimated inhabitants.
The ministry’s 2025 State of Health of the Nation Report additionally estimated that no less than 40% of Nigerian adults had been dwelling with hypertension.
These figures spotlight the rising burden of non-communicable ailments and the considerations driving requires insurance policies to discourage extreme sugar consumption.
