Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said that the government is considering placing new taxes, including excise duties and VAT, on carbonated soft drinks in order to boost its revenues.

Note – this move by Nigeria’s government is not motivated by health concerns, such as South Africa’s sugar tax. The Nigerian government has made clear that it is under financial pressure as a result of the underperformance of oil revenues. The importation of carbonated soft drinks (but not energy or health drinks) and fruit juices in retail packs (as opposed to bulk juice) is already banned, to protect local manufacturers and protect dollar reserves.

Soft drinks are traditionally seen as an easy target for revenue raising because of the presence of large multinationals such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo and the discretionary nature of the product (it is never considered a core commodity like, for example, cooking oil).