The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has banned the importation, manufacturing, distribution, sale, and use of alcoholic beverages in sachets, PET, and glass bottles of 200ml and below.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye disclosed this on Monday, February 5, 2023, at a press conference in Abuja.
Prof Adeyeye informed that, as of January 31, there was no alcoholic beverage in these categories that were registered by NAFDAC.
The DG mentioned that NAFDAC was taking enforcement measures to ensure the implementation of this new policy, noting that the deadline given to manufacturers for selling off all alcoholic drinks in this category expired on January 31, 2024.
“To this end on the first day, after the elapse of the window period, the agency commenced nationwide enforcement actions on 1 February, to enforce the implementation of the new policy,” she said.
She noted that during enforcement actions, it was discovered that some manufacturers of these banned products were still in production, and still had stacks of both finished products and packaging materials of the products in their possession.
She said the agency views this matter seriously and will engage all statutory means, which may include prosecution, to deal with the matter.
“I want to use this medium to ask all holders of alcohol in sachets, PET and glass bottles, empty sachets, PET bottles, empty glass bottles, and other packaging materials of these banned products to immediately report to the Investigation and Enforcement Directorate of NAFDAC for hand-over of same to NAFDAC for destruction, to prevent sterner measures including prosecution,” she said.
Prof Adeyeye warned that the people mostly at risk of the negative effects of consumption of the banned pack sizes of alcoholic beverages were the under-aged, commercial vehicle drivers and riders.
She said the World Health Organization (WHO) had established that children who drink alcohol were more likely to use drugs, get bad grades, suffer injury or death, engage in risky sexual activity, make bad decisions, and have health problems.
Similarly, she said the global health body also stated that harmful consumption of alcohol is linked to more than 200 health conditions including infectious diseases – Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS; and non-communicable conditions- liver cirrhosis and different types of cancer.
“To curb the menace of abuse of alcohol, WHO recommended some actions and strategies to policymakers that have shown to be effective and cost-effective, which includes regulating the marketing of alcoholic beverages, and regulating and restricting the availability of alcohol,” she said.
