Ban on sachet alcoholic beverages still in force – NAFDAC

• Published On: 22 June 2024 at 14:50

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control's Director General, Moji Adeyeye, stated that the nation's ban on the sale and use of sachet alcoholic beverages remains in effect.

Adeyeye made this statement on Wednesday during a news conference that our correspondent watched live via Zoom in Lagos.

"The ministerial directive prohibiting the sale of sachet alcohol remains in effect until the ministers respond," the speaker stated. The conversation was continued at the meeting on Thursday of last week.

"The meeting's upshot is that the ministers should submit a message to the Speaker of the House and the Speaker's Representative, Prof. Jake Dan-Azumi, who then suggested that we resume the conversation following the House members' July break. Thus, the conversation goes on.


Philip Agbese, the deputy spokesman for the House of Representatives, revealed last Friday that the House and NAFDAC decided to relax the prohibition on the nation's sale and consumption of alcoholic sachets.

Agbese stated that following a meeting between NAFDAC representatives and the House Committee, a resolution to temporarily lift the prohibition was reached.

According to him, the prohibition will be lifted only after the economy has fully recovered from its current stress.


The prohibition on the importation, production, distribution, sale, and use of alcoholic beverages in sachets, PET, and glass bottles with a capacity of less than 200 millilitres was put into effect by NAFDAC on February 1, 2024.

The decision, according to the NAFDAC DG, was made in response to a recommendation made in December 2018 by a high-level committee comprising the Federal Ministry of Health, NAFDAC, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, and the industry, which was represented by the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria and the Association of Food, Beverages, and Tobacco Employers.

Distillers and labour unions, however, have repeatedly protested the enforcement of the prohibition, claiming that it will destroy N800 billion in investments and result in the loss of 500,000 jobs.

Medical professionals have cautioned that the relaxation of the alcohol prohibition will cause severe health problems, a rise in traffic accidents, a rise in alcohol abuse, difficulties with the liver, the heart, and malignancies, among other things.