BENUE: Police To Go After Beer Parlors Selling Alcohol Beyond 10pm

The police in Benue State are set to commence enforcement of the Liquor Act which forbids beer parlor operators from selling alcohol to residents between 10pm and 1pm.

The purpose of the Act is to contain insecurity in the state and as such, the police need to enforce the act which has been in
existence before now.

The Benue State
Police Command said it would soon commence enforcement of the act.

The State Police Spokesperson, Catherine Anene, said: “There is a liquor act which stipulates that people who sell beer or alcohol in beer parlours and open places shouldn’t be there beyond 10 pm. That is part of the law, there are other provisions of the law.

“But in Benue for a long time now, people sell alcohol beyond 10 pm and some till the next day. So when the new Commissioner came, he said that will encourage crime. When people drink so much even beyond normal hours, they begin to misbehave and it encourages crime.

“So we want to enforce liquor act and that is why we started enforcing the act. The act has been there but there was no enforcement,”.

Anene also disclosed that the State Commissioner of Police, Audu Madaki, had asked the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in the state to invite beer parlour operators in their catchment areas and find out if they are licensed to sell beer.

The DPOs are also to find out if these operators understand the details of the act.

“The act has several portions which will be enforced to beef up security in the state,” Anene said in the statement.

While this new directive may curb the insecurity in the state as posited by the state’s police, many fear it may send some youths into untold idleness and unemployment.

The beer selling business is known for its massive sales at the later time of the day but this, according to the police, was contributing to worsening insecurity in the state.