Recently, there have been uproars from sellers of alcoholic beverages across Nigeria, especially in Ibadan, Oyo State, over the ban on sachet alcohol and alcoholic beverages in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or glass bottles below 200ml.
The alcoholic packaging was banned by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in 2019, but enforcement only commenced about five (5) years later.
In July, the Agency announced a nationwide mop-up of banned sachet and PET-bottle alcohol.
Why the ban?
The move by NAFDAC to ban alcohol sold in sachets or in less than 200ml PET bottles was to protect minors from early exposure to high-concentration alcohol.
NAFDAC did not, in any of its press releases, state that the decision was due to health concerns. In a video shared earlier in the year on the Agency’s X page, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, the DG of NAFDAC, clarified: “I’m not opposed to the use of alcohol for adults. Adults’ physiological makeup is more mature to handle alcohol. But the point is, children are not small adults. Children are children. Their physiology is for children.
“When a child consumes alcohol or starts consuming alcohol early, their systems are exposed to alcohol early. So what the systems, their physiological systems cannot handle. Their physiological systems are exposed to alcohol early, and there is always damage.”
“Sachet alcohol has a concentration of like 43% alcohol. You can drink 2 sachets that are 10 times more than beer… because beer is about 6 to 8% alcohol. But some of the sachets of alcohol contain up to 43% alcohol,” she explained.
Why the enforcement now?
The ban was initially scheduled by the Agency to commence in 2019 but was opposed by stakeholders.
Giving a back story of the ban, Prof. Adeyeye, narrated; “I joined NABLAC in 2017… and we said, OK, we cannot ban it now. Let’s reduce the concentration. But as we were doing all this, they went to the Ministry of Health in 2018 to report NABLAC. So meetings were called… finally, in 2018, the Ministry of Health said, OK, let’s give a moratorium of five years. Because the complaints were going to affect jobs in 2018.
“Moratorium of five years for them to re-evaluate their work business plan. So that at the end of five years, there will not be sachet of alcohol, or alcohol in PET less than 200ml. All of us signed. NABLAC, Ministry of Health, D-BAN, and AFBT,” she stated.
