Emerging report reaching Page 36 on Sunday, indicates that the World Bank has appealed to the President Muhammadu Buhari Federal Government to impose special taxes on alcoholic drinks, cigarettes, and sugar-sweetened beverages, to improve the primary healthcare of Nigerians.
Shubham Chaudhuri, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, made the appeal in Abuja, during the Special National Council on Health meeting, organised by the Federal Ministry of Health.
According to him, if Nigeria wants to improve its healthcare, it needs to tax the things that are killing the people.
His words: “The economic rationale for taxing these products is strong, if we want to save lives and make a better and healthier Nigeria.”
Chaudhuri added that taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages, would reduce their consumption and expand fiscal space for universal health coverage post-Covid-19, and their health risks.
He suggested that investing in a stronger health system for all, would contribute to tackling rising poverty and inequality in the country.
He noted that with improved health tax increases, it would have additional advantage of reducing future healthcare costs, by curtailing the growth of non-communicable diseases that tobacco, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages cause.
More news later…
