The National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) has called on Nigeria’s House of Representatives not to approve the Customs, Excise Tariffs, Etc. (Consolidation) Amendment Bill, 2025, arguing that the proposed measure would deepen pressure on workers and manufacturers already strained by sweeping economic reforms.
In an open letter to House Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, signed jointly with NUFBTE President Comrade Garba Dankama, the union said the timing of the CETA Bill was particularly damaging for the country’s industrial workforce and manufacturing businesses.
The bill would replace the existing fixed excise charge of ₦10 per litre on soft drinks with a levy calculated as a percentage of each product’s retail price per litre. Dankama said workers and producers could not withstand what he described as another badly structured tax burden, warning that it could transform an already harsh business climate into a disastrous situation for the industry.
Manufacturing generally, along with the food, beverage and tobacco industries, is facing severe pressure, he said. Enacting the bill under current conditions could cause lasting harm to Nigeria’s already vulnerable industrial base and jeopardise the jobs of workers whose livelihoods depend on the sector.
“Manufacturing capacity utilisation has fallen substantially as companies deal with extremely expensive credit, higher power and transport bills, continuing difficulties in accessing foreign exchange, and lower consumer buying power,” Dankama said. “A number of production facilities have reduced output or stopped operating altogether. The non-alcoholic drinks sector, which supports hundreds of thousands of jobs in agriculture, transportation, distribution and retail, cannot take another tax increase without setting off more shutdowns, job cuts and a breakdown across the value chain.”
Dankama said he believed the House leadership would defend Nigerian workers while helping manufacturers navigate the country’s economic challenges.
He said employees had already absorbed much of the impact from the Federal Government’s removal of petrol subsidies and its foreign-exchange policy changes. Household incomes, he added, have failed to match the steep rise in the cost of transport, food, accommodation and other basic necessities.
“The industry requires time and space to adapt to the new economic environment and to remain viable,” he said. “Introducing an aggressive tax linked to product prices at this point could put the sector under severe stress, affecting investment, employment and livelihoods. There should be no further burden on an industry that employs and sustains so many Nigerians.”
The NUFBTE president also said a retail-price-based tax would expose producers to greater financial risk because manufacturing expenses remain vulnerable to swings in global commodity prices and geopolitical disruptions. The proposed charge, he said, would feed into higher consumer prices, reduce demand and accelerate factory closures.
“Imposing tax on a product group responsible for just 5% of the country’s sugar consumption will not produce meaningful health gains,” Dankama said. “Instead, it will drive consumers to lower-cost, unregulated substitutes and undermine the livelihoods of more than one million Nigerians who have already carried the burden of recent economic reforms.”
