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World Food Day: Keeping Everyone Safe from Trans fats

Published

2 years ago

October 25, 2022

By Jerome Mafeni

This year’s World Food Day with the theme “Leave no on behind” is celebrated amid a deteriorating global food security crisis with an all-time high of numbers of people at risk of experiencing serious levels of hunger in different parts of the world. This is especially so among developing countries in Africa and Asia with Nigeria being no exception.

With the war in Ukraine, along with several conflicts in different parts of the world (Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria and ethnic conflicts), coupled with the very severe effects of climate change resulting from severe weather events that has caused drought, flooding and other natural disasters, major disruptions have occurred to the food supplies to various countries.

The World Food Day is one of the most celebrated days on the United Nations (UN) calendar and is celebrated in over 150 countries worldwide. This day enables all stakeholders including governments, businesses, NGOs, the media, and general public to come together for joint reflection and action on how to address the challenges faced by those who suffer the most from hunger.

By creating global awareness, it is hope that the need for food equity will be promoted as well as the need to ensure healthy diets for all.

With the world’s population estimated to approximate 10 billion by 2050 and well over 2 billion people already not having regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food today, it is clear that new and effective strategies must be articulated and implemented to address this gap in food security.

It is also important that we address the importance of increasing access to healthy and nutritious food for all, including food that is free of toxic chemicals such as trans fatty acids. Improving access to safe and nutritious food is important especially for poor and vulnerable communities who are hit hardest by the harmful effects unhealthy foods have on consumers. This is more so as several of these can be prevented through the improvement in public awareness and appropriate regulations.

Trans fats have been linked to increases in the risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancers, dementia and death. According to estimates by the World Health Organization, over 500, 000 persons died yearly resulting from complications associated with the consumption of foods high in trans fats. This statistic has led to the call for the global elimination of industrially produced trans-fat by 2023.

Trans fats are fats produced from the industrial process of hydrogenation, whereby molecular hydrogen (H2) is added to vegetable oil, converting liquid fat to a semi-solid and stable fat that have a long shelf life. Food products containing unsaturated fats are susceptible to rancidity with attendant unpleasant taste and odor as a manifestation of their short shelf life.

This thus led to research to create a more stable form of unsaturated fat that had the potential for a significantly extended shelf life and improving the value of a variety of foods.

Industrially produced trans-fatty acids (TFA) cause heart disease and death, are not necessary in food and can be eliminated. Industrially produced TFA are used in baked and fried foods, pre-packaged snacks, and certain cooking oils and fats that are used at home, in restaurants and in street foods. Elimination of industrially produced TFA from food is feasible, and some countries are taking action, although until recently this has been mostly in wealthy countries. Efforts need to move beyond high-income countries so that everyone can benefit from TFA elimination.

The theme of this year’s World Food Day ‘Leave No One Behind’ provides an opportunity for the Federal Government to fast track the gazetting of the 2022 Oils and Fats Regulations, a mandatory regulation that addresses the amount of TFAs permissible in our food systems because this caters to everyone’s need and rights regarding access to healthy food options.

Early gazetting and implementation of this regulations will also safeguard the health of Nigerians and reduce the inflow of trans-fatty foods into our food markets.

It is important for the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) immediately initiate a regulations implementation framework that will ensure effective compliance by all food producers in the country. This is for the good of all Nigerians whether young or old, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, rural or urban dweller as effective implementation will guarantee improved health for all by a measure that is so easy to accomplish if the right political will to do so exists.

By Dr. Jerome O. Mafeni, Project Adviser for TFA Elimination, Network for Health Equity and Development (NHED)

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Business

Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Published

2 weeks ago

March 6, 2025

The Gleamer

Ismaila Ahmad Abdullahi Ph.D

The public hearings conducted recently by the two Chambers of the National Assembly have elicited positive responses from a broad spectrum of Nigerians, cutting across regional interest groups, government agencies, civil society groups, concerned individuals, the academia, and Labour Unions, among diverse others. Contrary to a few dissensions hitherto expressed in the media, almost all the stakeholders who spoke during the week-long sessions were unanimous in their declaration that the hallowed Chambers should pass the tax reform bills after a clean-up of the grey areas.

The public hearings were auspicious for all Nigerians desirous of economic growth and fiscal responsibility. They were also a watershed moment for the Federal Inland Revenue Service, which had been upbeat about the tax reforms. Indeed, the public hearings had rekindled hope in the tenets of democracy that guarantee freedom of expression and equitable space for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Without gainsaying the fact, the tax reform bills have been unarguably about the most thought-provoking issues in Nigeria today, drawing variegated perspectives and commentaries from even unlikely quarters such as the faith-based leaders, student bodies, and trade unions, which speaks much about the importance of the bills.

In the build-up to the public hearings, not many people believed that the bills would make it to the second reading, much less the public hearings. Even the Northern stakeholders who seemed unlikely to support the passage of the bills have softened their stance and have given valuable suggestions that would enrich the substance of the bills. The Arewa Consultative Forum came to the public hearings well-prepared with a printed booklet that addressed their concerns. It concluded with an advisory that the bills should be “Well planned, properly communicated, strategically implemented and ample dialogue and political consensus allowed for the reforms to be accepted.”

The concerns of ACF ranged from the composition of the proposed Nigeria Revenue Service Board as contained in Part 111, Section 7 of the bill, the unlimited Presidential power to exempt/wave tax payment as proposed in Section 75(1) of the bill, the family income or inheritance tax as contained in Part 1, Section 4(3) of the bill, to the issues around development levy and VAT. On the development levy, the ACF stated that unless the Federal Government is considering budgetary funding for TETFUND, NASENI and NITDA, it does not see the “wisdom behind the plan to replace (them) with NELFUND”.

The position of the North was equally reinforced by the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, Northern Elders Forum, Kano State Government, Professor Auwalu Yadudu, and the FCT Imams. Like the ACF, these stakeholders lent their respective voices to the Section on the Inheritance Tax in Part 1 of the bill and the use of the term ‘ecclesiastical’, which, in their views, undermines certain religious rights and beliefs. The Kano State Government, represented by Mahmud Sagagi, affirmed that “we support tax modernisation” but cautioned that “we must ensure that this process does not come at the expense of states’ constitutional rights and economic stability”. Professor Auwalu Yadudu, a constitutional law professor, drew attention to the use of the ‘supremacy clause’ and cautioned that the repeated use of “notwithstanding” in the bills would undermine the supremacy of the Nigerian constitution if passed as such.

Other stakeholders that made contributions at the sessions included the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, and a host of others. While most of their concerns bordered on technical issues requiring fine-tuning, they were unanimous in their support for the bills. They aligned with the position of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, Ph.D. and the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, which is that the extant tax laws and fiscal regulations are obsolete necessitating reforms aimed at creating a fair and equitable tax and fiscal space to grow Nigeria’s economy.

In one of the sessions, Dr Zaach Adedeji expounded on the criss-cross of trade activities in the Free Trade Zone whereby companies misuse tax waivers as exporters to sell their goods or services in the Customs Area at an amount usually less than the price the operators in the Customs Area who pay VAT and other taxes sell theirs thereby disrupting business transactions. This way, the operators in the Free Trade Zone shortchange the government in paying their due taxes by circumventing extant regulations, which are inimical to the economy’s growth.

Overall, the presentations were forthright, foresighted, and helpful in elucidating the issues contained in the bills. According to the statistics read out at the end of the hearings at the Senate, 75 stakeholders were invited, 65 made submissions, and 61 made presentations. At the House of Representatives 53 stakeholders made presentations. By all means, this is a fair representation. Given the presentations, it is evident that the National Assembly has gathered enough materials to guide its deliberations on the bills. As we look forward to the passage of the bills, we commend the leadership of the National Assembly for their unwavering commitment to making the bills see the light of the day.

Abdullahi is the Director of the Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS.

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