The Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN) has commended the Senate for passing the Customs, Excise Tariff, Etc. (Consolidation) Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025, describing it as a major step towards improving healthcare financing and health outcomes in the country. The bill was passed by the Senate on Thursday and seeks to replace the current flat-rate excise duty on sugar-sweetened beverages with a retail price-based levy. It also provides a framework for channelling part of the proceeds towards health promotion and healthcare financing.
According to HFN, the legislation will help Nigeria tackle the growing burden of non-communicable diseases while strengthening domestic funding for the health sector. The federation also praised the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ipalibo Harry Banigo, for sponsoring the bill and commended the Senate leadership for supporting the reform.
HFN noted that Nigeria continues to record rising cases of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and other non-communicable diseases, which place significant pressure on households, businesses and government resources.
Speaking on the development, the President of HFN, Njide Ndili, said, “The Senate’s passage of this bill is an important milestone for Nigeria’s health sector and for the broader goal of achieving Universal Health Coverage. For many years, HFN and numerous public health stakeholders have advocated not only for the introduction of pro-health taxes, but also for the strategic allocation of the revenues generated from these taxes towards strengthening healthcare delivery, expanding health coverage and protecting vulnerable populations.
“We commend Senator Banigo and the Senate for advancing a reform that recognizes the important connection between fiscal policy and public health.”
The federation stated that the passage of the bill reflects years of advocacy by health sector stakeholders who have consistently pushed for revenues generated from sugar-sweetened beverage taxes and other pro-health taxes to be ring-fenced and invested in strengthening Nigeria’s healthcare system.
HFN recalled that since 2020, it has advocated the introduction and strengthening of pro-health taxes on products linked to preventable diseases. The federation added that it had consistently maintained that proceeds from such taxes should be directed towards healthcare financing, including support for primary healthcare, health insurance coverage, healthcare infrastructure, health promotion and services for vulnerable populations.
As part of its advocacy efforts, HFN said it developed policy recommendations calling for the ring-fencing of revenues from sugar-sweetened beverage taxes for the healthcare sector and engaged policymakers on the need to use such revenues to strengthen Nigeria’s health system.
The federation further recalled its participation in a national Health Financing Policy Dialogue on Pro-Health Tax Implementation in 2022, organised by PharmAccess in partnership with Nigeria Health Watch and the World Bank. According to HFN, the dialogue brought together representatives from government, the private sector, development partners and civil society to discuss sustainable healthcare financing, accelerate progress towards Universal Health Coverage and explore effective frameworks for implementing pro-health taxes.
The federation also commended the contributions of advocacy and technical partners, including PharmAccess, Nigeria Health Watch, the World Bank, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
