Sachet Ban: NAFDAC Admits Complexity of Issues as Protesters Storm Lagos Office

Raheem Akingbolu

The Director, Veterinary Medicine and Allied Products at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Rametu Momodu, has acknowledged the complexity of the issues around recent ban of beverages drinks in sachet and PET bottles and assured various bodies protesting the ban of the agency’s commitment to look into their concerns.

Addressing the employees of the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria, representatives of various labour unions and journalists, who stormed the agency’s Lagos office on Tuesday, Dr. Momodu assured the protesters that their case would be looked into it it had been submitted officially through appropriate quarters.

She said, “I know this is a critical issue because jobs are involved and lives are involved. All the issues stated in your letters will be seriously looked into and I can assure you our DG is a mother and she will accord your letter all the necessary attention. I am not addressing you this way so that you can leave our premises, I’m saying because of the importance of the issue at hand,”

Tuesday’s protest was the latest in the string of demonstrations since February 1, 2024, when NAFDAC started the enforcement of the ban on sachet alcoholic beverages and glass bottles of 200ml and below.

The members of the association, chanting; ‘Adeyeye Save Our Job’, were also seen with placards with many inscriptions such as; ‘Let poor Nigerians breathe’, ‘Let beverage workers breathe’, amongst others.

With placards raised high and voices resounding, the affiliates of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) voiced their grievances for the second time at the NAFDAC premises.

The Branch Secretary of FOBTOB,
Antony Oyagha, expressed the association’s frustration.

He said: “NAFDAC came to seal up our factory and they said because we are producing sachet.
“NAFDAC has not been able to give us any tangible reasons why they are sealing us up and we know that companies has invested millions of naira going to schools to always inform that the drinks are not meant for the underaged Nigerians and if you look at the sachet it is written on it that it is not meant for under eighteen.

“A situation where Nigerians are already battling with unemployment, NAFDAC wants to expand the problem again by making many of our youths unemployed.

“We asked that what are the indices to put on the table to say that children are drinking the alcohol but non was provided. We discovered that they want to kill our business and that will not be possible, because anything that makes them succeed means that over 500 thousand of our workers would loose their jobs.

Branch Secretary of NUFBTE, Jeffrey Igein, urged NAFDAC to reconsider its policy and ensure thorough regulation.

NAFDAC director-general, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, had said no such beverages were registered with the NAFDAC.

On February 13, 2024, members of the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association of Nigeria gave NAFDAC 14-day ultimatum to reverse its ban on sachet alcohol.