NAFDAC DG, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye | File Image
‘Nigeria currently bears the burden of increased alcohol-related violence, reduced productivity, escalating healthcare costs, and a rising addiction crisis among young people’
By Valentine Amanze
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control’s (NAFDAC) insistence on enforcing the federal government’s ban on the sale and production of alcoholic beverages in sachets, PET bottles, glass bottles of 200ml and below, beginning December 2025, has drawn the support of the Network for Health Equity and Development (NHED) and Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) despite public outcry.
In a joint statement on Sunday, the two leading public health advocacy organisations described the ban as a long-overdue public health intervention essential for safeguarding the well-being of Nigeria’s children, youths, and other vulnerable populations.
They agreed with NAFDAC that the packaging, pricing, and aggressive marketing of these products had made highly potent alcohol dangerously accessible, especially to minors, and were contributing significantly to rising addiction, social disorder, road crashes, and non-communicable diseases across the country.
They noted that when NAFDAC first announced the ban in 2024, it gave manufacturers a multi-year phase-out period, which ends in December 2025, to exhaust existing stock.
But some alcohol manufacturers flagrantly continued full production even after the deadline.
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NHED and CAPPA condemned the pushback from the manufacturers, particularly the claim by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) that the ban could lead to investment decline and retrenchment, saying it was a familiar scare tactic to push government to prioritise commercial greed over public health.
The manufacturing process of these products, they argued, is mostly mechanised and requires relatively limited human effort; hence, the claims about huge job losses were contrived.
“We reject in its entirety the claims by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) that the ban will trigger a loss of over N1.9 trillion in investment and lead to the retrenchment of over 500,000 workers,” the organisations stated.
“These figures are not only inflated and unverifiable, but they also represent a familiar scare tactic used by alcohol and tobacco corporations globally whenever governments attempt to regulate harmful products.”
Besides, they contended that rather than engaging honestly with evidence-based public health policies, industry actors had chosen to weaponize economic misinformation to blackmail the Nigerian government and regulatory agencies.
“This behaviour is irresponsible, deceptive, and unbecoming of entities that claim to operate ethically,” the NHED and CAPPA added.
Dr. Jerome Mafeni, the NHED’s Technical Director, said that protecting lives must take precedence over investment.
“The long-term social and economic costs of alcohol-related harm far outweigh any short-term profits that manufacturers seek to protect,” Mafeni said.
“Nigeria currently bears the burden of increased alcohol-related violence, reduced productivity, escalating healthcare costs, and a rising addiction crisis among young people. These harms disproportionately affect poor and marginalised communities, who sachet alcohol products specifically target.”
He added, “It is unacceptable that children can purchase high-concentration alcoholic products for as little as ₦100. It is equally unacceptable that manufacturers have, for years, prioritised profit over the safety and well-being of Nigerians.”
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