The federal government says it is committed to attain the global best practice of nearly 20 per cent taxation on the final retail price on all sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs).
Chukwuma Anyaike, a director at the federal health ministry disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at the Pro-Health, Tax Policy Campaign on Sugar Sweetened Beverages.
According to Mr Ayaike, non-communicable diseases continue to remain the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa and the World Health Organisation Assembly has endorsed a package of 16 evidence based interventions focusing on addressing non-communicable diseases risk factors.
These he said included tobacco, harmful use of alcohol, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet.
“One of the interventions is the use of taxes on products that have a negative public health impact with the explicit goal of reducing consumption of such products. These taxes are considered to have the potential to reduce NCDs…