FCFA Work

Recent positions, research, and policy engagements

A running record of FCFA's work across consumer policy in Africa.

COMMENTARY · Lagos, Nigeria · 4 OCTOBER 2026

South Africa's sugar levy punishes shoppers without proof it works

South Africa's sugar tax debate has two loud lobbies and one silent victim: the shopper. The sugar industry, through the South African Sugar Association, is urging the National Treasury to extend the freeze on Health Promotion Levy increases to 2030, warning of the collapse of a sector supporting 300,000 jobs. Health campaigners want the levy raised. Nobody is asking what the tax does to the poorest households at the till, or whether it has earned its keep as health policy. That is the consumer question, and it is being ignored.

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PRESS RELEASE · Lagos, Nigeria · 4 OCTOBER 2026

Nigeria's sugar levy is a tax on choice, and the poor will pay it

The Foundation for Consumer Freedom Advancement (FCFA) has urged Nigeria's House of Representatives to reject the proposed sugar-sweetened beverage levy, calling it what it is: a blunt, regressive tax on consumer choice that punishes shoppers, hits low-income households hardest, and cannot demonstrate meaningful public health gains.

South Africa's sugar levy punishes shoppers without proof it works

Nigeria's sugar levy is a tax on choice, and the poor will pay it

Kenya's flavour ban punishes adults for the state's enforcement failures

Nigeria's new alcohol tax will grow the illicit market it claims to fight

An open-ended sugar tax is a blank cheque drawn on Nigerian shoppers

What 4,000 households in five countries can teach African policymakers

Kenya's plan to put 16% VAT on M-Pesa is a tax on the people who can least afford it

Kenya's Tobacco Bill treats adults like children. It should be withdrawn.

FCFA Urges FCCPC and NAFDAC to Publish Scope Rules Before Joint Enforcement Begins

South Africa Doesn't Need a Bigger Sugar Tax. It Needs to Account for the One It Has.

A Thirteen-Fold Tax Hike is Not a Health Policy

Three Years On, Nigeria's Sugar Tax Has Raised Prices, Not Public Health

Nigeria's Tax Overhaul Must Keep the Consumer in View

Kenya's Blanket Ban on Nicotine Products Will Hurt the Consumers It Claims to Protect

World No Tobacco Day 2025: The Appeal Worth Unmasking is the One Against Adult Choice

Nigeria's Digital Economy Is Booming, But New Taxes Are Locking Consumers Out

Ghana's E-Levy Repeal is a Win for African Consumers

South Africa's Tobacco Bill Must Not Collapse the Difference Between Cigarettes and the Alternatives to Them

Warning Labels Should Reflect Lower Risk

World No Tobacco Day 2024: Protecting Children and Respecting Adults Are Not the Same Thing

Kenya's Finance Bill 2024 Piles New Costs on Consumers Without Transparency on the Old Ones

COP10's Recognition of Human Rights in Tobacco Control is Good for Consumers

The AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol is a Step Forward. But the African Consumer Must Be in the Room.

Balancing Evidence and Public Health in Kenyan Tobacco Regulation

The Promise of a Tax is Not the Same as Its Delivery

World No Tobacco Day 2023: The Conversation Africa Actually Needs

Bringing tobacco harm reduction to Ghana's policy debate

Nigerian Consumers Deserve the Truth About Where the SSB Tax Money Goes

Dispelling myths and fallacies about smoking alternatives

High Excise Duties are Preventing Access to Safer Alternatives to Smoking in Africa

Kenya should not Restrict its Citizens from Tobacco Alternatives

Life-saving potential of alternative nicotine products

Kenya's Foundation for Consumer Freedom Advancement (Podcast)

Government ticks all the wrong tobacco boxes

Why SA's plan to tax e-cigarettes would be counterproductive

How the new sugar tax will hurt Nigerians (The Cable)

How the new sugar tax will hurt Nigerians

Soft drinks tax: One tax too many for Nigerians

Promote healthier alternatives to tobacco

The Kenyan Government should Stop Interfering in People's Lives

Lack of information about alternatives may increase smoking-related casualties