Beverage Workers Protest Against NAFDAC’s Ban on Alcoholic Drinks in Sachets

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and workers under the auspices of Beverage, Tobacco Senior Staff Association have disagreed over the ban on alcoholic drinks in sachets and in less than 200ml pet bottles.

While NAFDAC said that it decided to phase out the production of the alcoholic drinks in sachets and pet bottles in less than 200ml by January 31, 2024 due to their health hazards to the society, the union claimed that the outright ban was wrong since the sachet drinks are registered food products.

The union also said that It is worried over what will become of the thousands of the workforce who will lose their jobs if the industry is shut down.

Addressing members of the union, who thronged the headquarters of NAFDAC Tuesday morning to protest the ban of their products, the President of Association of Food, Beverage & Tobacco Employers (AFBTE), Comrade Jimoh Oyibo, said that NAFDAC did not carry out any form consultation or engagement with stakeholders before ordering the ban.

He said: “We are here because of what befalls our companies, once you shut down that pet sizes, it’s as good as losing the company. So, considering the number of our workers that are affected, we said no, we can’t allow this to go. Meanwhile, this are registered food  products, we don’t just came out of the blue and decided to produce. 

“If we allow it to stay, it means that thousands of people will be affected and of course, the multiplier effect is something else.

“The ban came as a surprise. We were taken unawares. There was no engagement by the NAFDAC. The officers just came and sealed off our companies.”

On the way forward, Oyibo said that there is need for constructive engagement with all stakeholders and look at what is possible.

However, NAFDAC has said that it has not banned alcohol production in bigger bottles.

In a statement signed by NAFDAC’s Resident Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, it said the agency only banned alcohol in containers or packing that a child can easily conceal, that is, sachet or pet bottles less than 200ml.

The statement said the ban only concerned alcoholic content in sachets or pet bottles less than 200ml which is 30%. Beer has 4-8% alcohol.

It said: “The Association of Food, Beverage & Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) and Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN) signed an agreement with MOH and NAFDAC and FCCPC in 2018 December that they will phase out production of alcohol in sachet and PET bottles less than 200ml by January 31, 2024. The agreement document is available.  A five-year phase out notice should be sufficient. 

“Nigeria was one of the 193 member states of WHO that reached an historical consensus on a global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol by adopted resolution WHA63.13 at the sixty-third session of the World Health Assembly, held in Geneva in 2010. 

‘This was seven years before my time, an agreement signed by Nigeria with other nations that we will protect youth by making alcohol not easily reachable and accessible.”