Nigeria: From Policy to People - Nigeria Can Turn Alcohol Taxes Into Health for All
[Vanguard] *Nigeria needs a modern alcohol law and modern alcohol taxes. Together they protect health, cut the costs alcohol harm imposes on families, society, and the economy, and raise the revenue to put the new National Alcohol Policy into practice.
Nigeria requires a modern alcohol law and taxation system to address the health and social costs of alcohol harm. Currently, alcohol taxes are among the lowest in West Africa, with beer taxed at only five US cents per litre. This low pricing enables the alcohol industry to aggressively market their products, including to children. Despite a recent increase, the alcohol tax rates are subject to inflation, meaning they lose value for families over time.
Alcohol taxes have proven effective in other nations. Botswana, for example, saw a 12 percent reduction in traffic crash rates and a 27 percent drop in recorded alcohol use after implementing an alcohol levy in 2008. The revenue from this levy was used to subsidise health insurance for the poorest 40 percent of the population, covering 15.3 million people within three years.
In Nigeria, the implementation of a modern alcohol law and higher taxes would provide a firm foundation for the National Alcohol Policy. This would secure the revenue for policy programmes and prevent alcohol industry influence on health decisions. The revenue generated could be earmarked and expanded to fund prevention, treatment, enforcement, and primary health care initiatives, with transparent public reporting.
This approach has been successful in Thailand, where a 2 percent surcharge on alcohol and tobacco excise funds the Thai Health Promotion Foundation with approximately US$120 million annually.
Written by urgent.news from AllAfrica Health's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
