The Minister of State for Health, Sen. Adeleke Mamora, says that the Federal Government will use sugar tax revenue generated to improve access to healthcare services across the country.

Mamora disclosed this on Tuesday at the first Webinar Series on Nigeria Pro-Health Taxes, themed: “Does Nigeria Need Sugar Tax?”, organized in collaboration with key sector stakeholders, Nigeria Health Watch, supported by the National Action on Sugar Reduction (NASR), Healthcare Federation of Nigeria, and the Nigeria Cancer Society.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, while presenting the breakdown of the 2022 budget, announced that the Federal Government has introduced an excise tax of N10 per liter on all non-alcoholic, carbonated, and sweetened beverages.

Explaining that the new tax was introduced to raise excise duties and revenues for health-related and other critical expenditures in line with the 2022 budget priorities, Ahmed added that the primary aim of the tax is to discourage excessive consumption of sugar in beverages, which contributes to obesity, diabetes and other diseases.

He also disclosed that the government is working hard to ensure that resources from the pro-health tax were reinvested in public health to help reduce the burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in the country.

The minister said that critical stakeholders also have important roles to play by mobilising resources for the Nigerian health sector to help improve the health outcomes in the country.

He noted that the federal Government would continue to protect the lives of Nigerians and safeguard the country’s economy.

The wife of the Governor of Kebbi State, Mrs Zaniab Bagudu, said that sugar-tax policy had shown that Nigeria is joining active nations that want to do something significant to improve their health population.

“Policy is always the beginning, having the right policy in place is what pushes us to advocate and make the necessary interventions to improve the health population.

“It is also important that we look at the political will for this policy to scale up health outcomes,” she said.

Bagudu, also the founder of Medicaid Cancer Foundation (MCF), said that Nigeria needs to ensure that the revenue derived from the sugar taxes is used directly in the health sector, especially on the indigent population.

She noted that it was important that these funds were sent to the underserved communities who have greater health needs to improve their health conditions.

Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, Executive Director of the Nigerian Heart Foundation, said that Nigeria has a huge opportunity to get more resources in the fight against NCD.

Akinroye noted that it is important to introduce this tax to help strengthen the Primary Health Care centers across the country which, he said, were the first line of care and would lower the cost of healthcare for the citizens.

Meanwhile, Dr. Pamela Ajayi, Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN), explained that the aimed of the sugar-tax is to improve the health of the population.

Ajayi noted that industries being taxed should push for better investments of these resources for infrastructure and health insurance for the benefit of every Nigerian.

According to the organiser, the fiscal policies, such as taxation, have enormous potential to promote healthy behavior, including discouraging excessive consumption of sugar in beverages, which contributes to the rising prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases.

They noted that the case for the introduction or increases in the rates of pro-health taxes like the introduction of taxes on SSB during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is strong. Beyond the positive effect on population health, they can also in turn contribute to the sustainability of health financing.