Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has called on the House of Representatives to urgently pass the Customs, Excise Tariffs, etc. (Consolidation) Act (CETA) Amendment Bill, popularly known as the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB) Tax Amendment Bill, to safeguard public health and align Nigeria’s fiscal framework with ongoing national tax reforms.
Following the Senate passage of the Bill on June 4, 2026, the legislation now awaits concurrence in the Green Chamber before it can be transmitted to the President for assent.
CAPPA in a statement e-signed by its Media and Communications Officer, Robert Egbe, emphasised that passing the bill without further delay is essential to correcting a critical flaw in the Finance Act of 2021, which inserted Section 21(3) into CETA and imposed a fixed excise duty of N10-per-litre on non-alcoholic, carbonated, and sweetened beverages.
“When the Finance Act of 2021 came into effect, a 35cl bottle of a sugar-sweetened beverage retailed for about N80. Today, that same bottle sells for approximately N500. Because the 2021 law hard-coded a static N10-per-litre figure into the statute, inflation and shifting market realities have eroded the duty to a negligible fraction of the retail price, rendering it completely incapable of discouraging excessive consumption or stimulating product reformulation,” part of the statement reads.
Speaking on the urgency of legislative action, CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, explained that the 2021 Finance Act inadvertently tied the hands of the government against exercising its fiscal powers effectively with respect to the SSB tax.
“A fixed duty of N10 per litre loses value as prices rise,” Oluwafemi stated. “By replacing it with a responsive, percentage-based levy tied to retail prices, the CETA Amendment Bill restores fiscal flexibility to the Executive and ensures that Nigeria’s health tax actually works as intended.”
He observed that a fixed levy of N10-per-litre amounts to about N3.30 on a standard 33cl (0.33 litre) bottle of a sugar-sweetened beverage, and that because the N10 rate is hard-coded as a fixed monetary value rather than an ad valorem (percentage) levy, inflation and soaring retail prices have diluted the tax to less than 1 percent of the shelf price.
“This dramatic erosion is precisely why manufacturers can easily absorb the cost without changing shelf prices or reformulating their products, rendering the current N10-per-litre excise completely ineffective as a public health tool,” Oluwafemi added.
CAPPA noted that the SSB Tax Amendment Bill is firmly in consonance with the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform efforts and enjoys broad institutional consensus across a broad spectrum of government ministries and agencies as demonstrated during the November 27, 2025, Public Hearing conducted by the Senate.
Government institutions that made submissions in support of the reform include the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Federal Ministry of Finance, Presidential Tax Reform Committee, the Nigerian Customs, among several others, in addition to public health stakeholders nationwide.
The organisation also reminded lawmakers that President Bola Tinubu had committed, as part of his Renewed Hope Agenda, to leveraging consumption taxes to sustainably fund health sector reforms. With non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounting for nearly 30 percent of annual deaths in Nigeria and households spending roughly N1.9 trillion out-of-pocket each year to treat diabetes and related illnesses, ring-fencing a portion of a strengthened SSB levy for health promotion and disease prevention directly fulfils that presidential mandate.
Addressing recent industry pushback, CAPPA clarified critical misconceptions surrounding the bill. It stated that the SSB Tax is distinct from a general sugar tax. The CETA Amendment Bill specifically targets non-alcoholic, carbonated, and sweetened beverages, which are mostly liquid calories that deliver zero nutritional value and drive rapid spikes in blood glucose, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes.
The organisation explained that the proposed amendment is not against local industry, nor does it include domestic sugar production in its scope. CAPPA argued that industry claims that the bill would undermine domestic sugar value chain are a deliberate attempt to divert public attention from the purpose of the tax. The SSB tax is a targeted public health measure designed to reduce sugary drink consumption and the public health burden it creates.
“In line with World Health Organization (WHO) guidance and the Bloomberg Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health, an effective retail-price levy, pegged at a benchmark of 50 percent with a minimum floor of 20 percent, protects Nigerian families from preventable chronic diseases while easing the financial burden on an underfunded healthcare system,” said Oluwafemi.
Commending the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly for its role in the amendment process, Oluwafemi added: “The Senate has already demonstrated patriotic leadership by passing this vital legislation.
“We urge the Speaker and honourable members of the House of Representatives to stand with millions of Nigerian families, reject corporate scaremongering, and expedite concurrence on the CETA Amendment Bill as a lasting investment in the health and productivity of our nation.”