The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has raised concern over the economic fallout that could follow the Senate’s passage of the Sugar Sweetened Beverage (SSB) Tax Bill, warning that fresh levies on an already strained manufacturing sector could prove costly.
The chamber argued that public health measures must be carefully structured to achieve their goals without placing a heavy burden on businesses, consumers and the wider economy. Its Director General, Dr. Chinyere Almona, made the case in a statement responding to the bill’s passage. According to Almona, manufacturers are already contending with high energy costs, exchange rate volatility, elevated interest rates, logistics difficulties, multiple taxation and weak consumer spending power. Adding a new beverage levy, she said, risks pushing production costs higher, with those increases likely passed on to consumers through steeper prices. The result, she warned, could be worsening inflation and falling demand for locally made goods.
She noted that the tax could ripple across the entire industrial value chain, since the beverage industry supports a broad network of suppliers, distributors, transporters, retailers, farmers and service providers. A drop in production, she added, could trigger reduced investment, lower capacity utilization and job losses across these linked sectors.
The LCCI called for a more balanced approach combining public health education, voluntary product reformulation, improved labelling, consumer awareness campaigns and broader stakeholder engagement. The chamber pointed to similar policies in more advanced economies designed to encourage manufacturers to cut sugar content rather than simply raise prices.
Almona urged the federal government and the National Assembly to revisit the bill through deeper technical consultation with manufacturers, health experts, organized private sector groups and consumer associations. A reformulation focused tax, she argued, would likely prove more effective than one driven purely by revenue, allowing health objectives to be met while protecting economic competitiveness, jobs and sustainable industrial growth.
