I believe that if you wish to stop any bad habit on a national scale, it might do you good to place a tax on it. A couple of friends and I made a deal once that every time either of us said a swear word, we were to place 5,000 Uganda shillings note into a piggy bank in order to curb the habit. It was pretty easy to part with the money at the beginning, but as months went by and we kept losing money, it was easier to simply adapt and teach ourselves not to use foul language. That is exactly what the outgoing President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari did as part of his swan song into office. Unfortunately, Nigeria’s new president has suspended the 10 per cent green tax that was placed on single-use plastics as one of his first actions of power. The 10 per cent tax was introduced as part of the Climate Change Act which was established with the primary objective of providing a framework for achieving low green gas emissions and integrating climate change actions into national plans and programs. Its introduction also aimed to encourage consumers to adopt cleaner gas technologies all in an attempt to help achieve a clean environment and also earn the government some income. What a way to kill two birds with one stone!
The suspension of the policy however has not been received with open arms and rightly so given the reason behind the reversal; to protect business growth. A double-handed decision, as green taxes, are a key tool to support the growth of the recycling industry, which as we all very well know should be the aim of every country today. It is clear that with this decision, the government’s participation towards embracing the policy has both been on one hand receptive and on the other hand complacent given the enthusiasm to meet these goals was not always matched with the administrative grit to drive policy forward in a meaningful way.
Some critics have argued that the policy that laid the green tax on the table was flawed. The speed at which the green tax was introduced and the lack of public information about the types of plastic that are subject to taxation indicate that the necessary footwork to determine the impact of the tax on vulnerable communities, the types of alternatives available to manufacturers and retailers, and the allocation of tax revenues had not been fully carried out at the time the tax was introduced. With this in mind, it does beg to question of how a policy can be implemented or useful without clear guidelines on how or who it affects.
With the fight against climate change, the green tax on single-use plastic seems like a great initiative. However, with its reversal, it seems like an uphill task for the Nigerian government to produce and streamline creative ways to design and deliver regulation that works for everyone. At the end of the day, the goal should be to preserve the environment.
“Green taxes are not a burden; they are a bridge to a cleaner, more sustainable future.”
– Unknown