Stakeholders in Nigeria’s health sector have called for stronger health taxes, backed by effective laws and policies, to discourage the consumption of harmful products and generate additional domestic resources for healthcare.

They specifically advocated higher taxes on tobacco, alcohol, sugar-sweetened beverages and other harmful products, saying such measures could help reduce consumption while providing sustainable funding for the health sector.

They spoke at a national stakeholders’ inception workshop themed, “Realising Health Taxes for Sustainable Health Financing and Curbing Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Nigeria.”

The workshop, organised by DGI Consult in collaboration with the Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation (HSDF) and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), with support from the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR), brought together policymakers, legislators, development partners, civil society organisations and researchers.

The stakeholders noted that Nigeria was facing a growing burden of non-communicable diseases alongside persistent challenges in health financing and protecting households from high out-of-pocket healthcare costs.

They said health taxes on tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages offered an opportunity to address both challenges, but noted that gaps remained in tax rates and structures, implementation, enforcement and the allocation of revenues to health.

The project’s Principal Investigator and Director-General of the NHIA, Dr Kelechi Ohiri, said significant work had been undertaken to advance health taxes in Nigeria, adding that progress on sugar-sweetened beverage taxation was particularly encouraging.

Ohiri, who was represented by Dr Kurfi Abubakar, said the project would build on existing evidence and policy efforts rather than duplicate previous initiatives, while strengthening coordination and implementation to translate progress into lasting policy and health financing outcomes.

He described the Health Tax Task Team (HTTT) as particularly important because no single institution could deliver meaningful health-tax reform alone.

“This is not to duplicate or replicate existing efforts but to harmonise and work with them to bring in additional evidence, ensure coordination and implementation. As seen in other countries, these taxes can help discourage consumption of harmful products, reduce pressure on the health system, and increase funds available for healthcare,” he said.

Representing the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ipalibo Banigo, a representative commended the dual role of health taxes in reducing consumption of products that contribute to preventable diseases while mobilising additional domestic resources for healthcare.

She highlighted recent legislative efforts, including amendments to the Customs and Excise Duty framework and the National Health Act, aimed at increasing the allocation to the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) from one per cent to two per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

She said the measures formed part of a broader legislative commitment to improving the sustainability of health financing.

She called for effective implementation, transparency, accountability, evidence-based policy design, public awareness and stronger intersectoral collaboration to ensure that the reforms translated into improved health outcomes.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Health, Mrs Uju Rochas-Anwukah, emphasised the need for stronger domestic responses to the growing burden of NCDs.

The Chief Executive Officer of DGI Consult, Dr Gafar Alawode, said the project builds on previous evidence and policy analysis on health taxes in Nigeria that had been published in a peer-reviewed journal and disseminated.

He said the next challenge was translating the available evidence and strategy into implementation and measurable results.

Chair and Co-convener of the Nigeria Universal Health Coverage Forum, Mrs Moji Makanjuola, said mobilising additional domestic resources for health had become increasingly important, particularly as donor funding declines. She said discouraging the consumption of harmful products through effective health taxes required collective action across all segments of society.

Makanjuola also stressed the importance of public awareness and citizen engagement in ensuring that health-tax reforms were effectively implemented and contributed to improved access to healthcare.

The Chairman of the Health Sector Reform Coalition and former Director-General of the NHIA, Dr Mustapha Lecky, recalled previous engagements by civil society organisations during public hearings on health taxation, where evidence was presented on alternative sources of health financing and approaches to strengthening the sector without necessarily imposing additional taxes.

He said the coalition remained willing to contribute further evidence and expertise to the reform process.