By Seun Ibiyemi
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has called on the House of Representatives to reject the proposed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB) Tax Bill, warning that the legislation could undermine Nigeria’s manufacturing sector, threaten jobs, and worsen the cost of doing business.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Chief Executive Officer of CPPE, Dr. Muda Yusuf, expressed concern over the Senate’s passage of the bill despite strong opposition from private sector stakeholders, particularly the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).
According to Yusuf, the proposed legislation is ill-timed and contradicts ongoing government efforts to stimulate industrial growth and improve the business environment.
“At a time when government policy is focused on easing the cost of doing business and revitalising manufacturing, the bill seeks to impose an additional layer of taxation on non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers, thereby worsening cost pressures across the value chain,” he said.
The CPPE noted that manufacturers are already grappling with rising energy costs, high interest rates, exchange rate volatility, logistics challenges, weak consumer purchasing power, and multiple taxes and levies. Adding another excise tax on non-alcoholic beverages, the group argued, would further weaken industrial competitiveness and discourage investment.
Yusuf stressed that the food and beverage industry remains one of the key drivers of Nigeria’s industrial economy, contributing significantly to manufacturing output and employment.
He added that the sector’s extensive linkages with agriculture, packaging, logistics, retail trade, hospitality, and distribution make it critical to economic growth.
“Any additional tax burden on the industry would inevitably increase production costs, raise consumer prices, weaken demand, reduce capacity utilisation and threaten jobs across the value chain,” he warned.
The economic policy advocacy group also raised concerns about policy inconsistency, noting that the 2026 fiscal framework already provides for an excise duty of ₦10 per litre on non-alcoholic beverages.
According to CPPE, introducing another layer of taxation through fresh legislation would create uncertainty in the investment climate and send negative signals to both local and foreign investors.
On the public health justification for the tax, the organisation argued that sugar taxes alone have limited effectiveness in addressing diabetes and other non-communicable diseases.
The group maintained that factors such as poor dietary habits, excessive consumption of carbohydrate-rich foods, physical inactivity, sedentary lifestyles, inadequate health awareness, and genetic predisposition are the major contributors to such health conditions in Nigeria.
Instead of imposing punitive taxes, CPPE urged lawmakers to support measures such as nutrition education, public health awareness campaigns, promotion of physical exercise, healthier dietary choices, improved preventive healthcare systems, and urban planning that encourages active lifestyles.
The organisation described such interventions as more sustainable and less damaging to economic activity than additional taxation targeted at a major manufacturing subsector.
Calling on the House of Representatives to decline concurrence to the bill, Yusuf said the proposed legislation is fundamentally anti-growth, as it would penalise production, discourage investment, threaten employment, and increase costs for consumers already struggling with economic hardship.
“The economy needs relief, not additional taxation; support for production, not policies that weaken enterprise; and reforms that create jobs, not measures that put them at risk,” he stated.
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CPPE maintained that Nigeria can simultaneously pursue public health objectives and economic growth through policies that promote healthier lifestyles while protecting investment, jobs, and industrial development.
The group therefore urged lawmakers to reject the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Bill in its entirety in the interest of manufacturing sustainability, employment preservation, investment confidence, and policy coherence.
