CPPE urges House of Reps to reject sugar beverage tax bill

The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has issued an appeal to the House of Representatives, calling on the lawmakers to flatly reject the recently passed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Bill.

The policy think tank expressed profound shock and concern over the Senate’s decision to pass the legislation, noting that it directly disregards serious and sustained objections raised by key private sector operators, most notably the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).

In a statement released on Sunday, the Chief Executive Officer of the CPPE, Dr. Muda Yusuf, characterized the bill as ill-timed, insensitive to current economic pressures, and explicitly contradictory to the Federal Government’s stated commitment to improving the ease of doing business and reducing corporate tax burdens.

Yusuf emphasized that Nigeria’s industrial sector is already pushed to its limits by a convergence of major macroeconomic headwinds. Manufacturers are currently battling historic interest rates, severe currency volatility, soaring energy costs, logistical bottlenecks, and highly depressed consumer purchasing power.

“Any additional tax burden on the industry would inevitably increase production costs, raise consumer prices, weaken demand, reduce capacity utilization, and threaten jobs across the value chain,” Yusuf warned.

He added that the non-alcoholic beverage subsector acts as a foundational anchor for wider domestic networks, cutting deeply into packaging, agriculture, logistics, retail trade, and hospitality.

Layering a new excise tax on this specific segment risks transforming the bill into a direct penalty on production, investment, and employment.

The CPPE further highlighted that the proposed legislation introduces dangerous policy inconsistency at a time when clarity is desperately needed. The existing 2026 fiscal policy framework already penalizes non-alcoholic beverages with an established excise duty of ₦10 per litre.

By attempts to alter the tax landscape through separate, compounding legislation, the National Assembly threatens to escalate regulatory uncertainty.

“Investors thrive on predictability,” the CPPE chief noted, cautioning that continuous, uncoordinated changes to the nation’s tax obligations send highly damaging signals to both current and prospective international investors.

While acknowledging the severe national health toll exacted by non-communicable diseases like diabetes, the economic think tank argued that empirical evidence proves standalone sugar taxes yield very limited public health benefits.

The group noted that the underlying drivers of diabetes in Nigeria are multifaceted, anchored heavily in overall dietary habits, high-carbohydrate consumption, physical inactivity, sedentary lifestyles, low health awareness, and genetics.

Rather than relying on punitive taxation that harms industrial capacity without changing consumer behavior, the CPPE urged lawmakers to prioritize holistic, sustainable alternatives. These include aggressive public health education, nutrition awareness campaigns, community sports promotion, and urban planning models that actively integrate walking and cycling infrastructure.

The CPPE concluded its briefing by reminding the lower chamber of its historical role as a defender of public welfare and productive local enterprise.

The center implored the House of Representatives to refuse concurrence to the Senate’s proposal, stating that the fragile economy needs immediate operational relief and job protection rather than an unsustainable layering of fiscal burdens.