The government in Nigeria has begun to implement a new tax regime for tobacco products and hopes it will discourage smoking in the country, reports ICIR.

The new policy has seen the ad valorem tax rate increase from 10 to 30 per cent with the excise rate also going up from NGN 58 (USD 0.14) to NGN 84 (USD 0.20) for a packet of 20 cigarettes. It is planned that the government will further increase the excise rate to NGN 94 (0.23) in 2023 and NGN 104 (USD 0.25) in 2024.
“This pro-health tax is an effective public health control measure against behavioural risk factors as it can reduce demand and consumption of tobacco products,” said Olorunimbe Mamora, the minister of state for health. “It will also prompt tobacco users to switch spending their resources on tobacco products to healthy alternatives such as education, health and others,” he said.
According to the new guidelines, all tobacco products must feature health warnings and graphic messages to make users aware of the harmful effects of tobacco use. Furthermore, in accordance with the National Tobacco Act (2015) and Regulations (2019), the government has begun to screen and issue operational licences to qualified tobacco businesses throughout the country in order to profile and monitor industry activities, reports ICIR.