The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on Federal Government to as a matter of urgency engage both employers in the sub-sector and Organized Labour in sincere discussions on other options that can deliver a mutually satisfying win-win solution on the excise duties on carbonated drinks.
This was contained in a statement signed by the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba on Friday.
The Congress lamented that this development might impose hardship on ordinary Nigerians who easily keep hunger at bay with a bottle of soft drink and maybe a loaf of bread.
According to Wabba, Our concern is the mass hunger that would result from the slightest increase in the retail price of soft drinks owing to imposition of excise duties as the product would be priced beyond the reach of millions of ordinary and poor Nigerians.
“Congress was also alerted by the complaint of manufacturers of soft drinks in Nigeria that the re-introduction of excise duties on their products would lead to very sharp decline in sales, forced reduction in production, and a sure roll back in investments with the certainty of job losses and possibly shut down of their manufacturing plants.
Recall that this was also the complaint of tyre manufacturing companies such as Dunlop and Michelin which was overlooked by government until the two companies relocated to neighbouring Ghana.
“Government should pay attention.
With 38% of the entire manufacturing output in Nigeria and 22.5% share representation of the entire manufacturing sector in Nigeria, the food and beverage industry is the largest industrial sub sector in our country. The food and beverage sub-sector has generated to the coffers of government N202 billion as VAT in the past five years, N7.3 billion as Corporate Social Responsibility and has created 1.5 million decent jobs both directly and indirectly. There is thus no gainsaying the fact that the industry is a golden goose that must be kept alive”, he said.
NLC also expressed worry over health reason proffered by government for the re-introduction of the excise duties seems altruistic.
“Yet, we are amiss why the government did not place the excise duties on sugar itself as a commodity rather than on carbonated drinks. The truth of the matter is that additional increase in the retail price of carbonated drinks would put more Nigerians at risk of serious health challenges as many people would resort to consuming sub-standard and unhygienic drinks as substitutes for carbonated drinks.
“The appeal to rescind the re-introduction of excise duties on non-alcoholic drinks becomes even more compelling when the projected immediate revenue expected from the policy is weighed against the potential long-term loss to both manufacturers and government.
“We hope that the current situation will not be allowed to degenerate into a breakdown in industrial relations in the sector and generally in the country”, he said.
