Consumers Divided Over NAFDAC’s Ban On Sachet Alcohol

Consumers of sachet alcoholic beverages have described the ban on the beverages by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control(NAFDAC) as a wrong timing and a major hit on them.

Recall that NAFDAC on Monday announced that it has commenced the enforcement of the ban on the importation, manufacture, distribution, sale, and use of alcoholic beverages in sachets, Polyethylene Terephthalate, and glass bottles of 200ml and below.

The agency in January 2022, stopped the registration of alcoholic beverages in sachet and small volume PET and glass bottles below 200ml.

This decision was based on the recommendation of a high-powered committee of the Federal Ministry of Health and NAFDAC, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, and the industry represented by the Association of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Employers, Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria, in December 2018.

As a result of the decision reached at the end of the committee meeting, producers of alcohol in sachets and small volume agreed to reduce the production by five per cent with effect from January 31, 2022, while ensuring the product is completely phased out in the country by January 31, 2024.

However, Nigerians who drink these beverages stated that the banning came at the wrong time as many of them are not financially buoyant to buy alcohol sold in bottles, especially with the harsh economic situation of the country.

“Whatever the reason the government is giving for the banning, we are on the losing side,” Richard Agor, a driver plying the Kubwa-Wuse express road told THE WHISTLER.

Agor noted that the beverages which were sold for affordable prices of N50 to N100 have been a source of relief for many of them during and after their day’s job.

“Now, they want to ban it. This is bad. I don’t know what the government wants from us. They are just asking us to go and die because there is nothing else for us to buy,” he lamented.

Also speaking, Chinji Okike, a carpenter, lamented that the ban will “deal” with people like him who were addicted to alcohol.

“Whenever I don’t take it, I feel a kind of way. Now that the government is trying to take ‘our cheapest’ drink from us, it will be difficult for us,” he said.

Also speaking to THE WHISTLER, Zainab Kehinde, who sells a herbal brew called Agbo in Gwarimpa, stated that the ban will affect her business negatively.

She explained that many people who patronize her normally buy three or more of the sachet of the alcohol after taking her Agbo as they could not afford the bottled ones.

“If the sachet alcohol is phased out, it will really affect my business. This is what I do to feed my family. The Agbo alone is not enough,” she lamented.

However, Ben Eze, a civil servant described the ban as a welcome development, stating that it will help curb the abuse of alcohol especially by minors.

“I drink anything alcoholic. For me who can afford any drink I want, I feel the ban is a good one. It will checkmate the abuse of alcohol by some people.

“Do you know that people I meet here instead of asking me for money to eat, ask me for N100 to N200 to buy alcohol? I do not oblige them. Maybe when they do not see the money to drink, it will reduce their drinking,” he said.

Also speaking, Chimobi Jude expressed satisfaction over the ban, lamenting that some youths have drunk themselves to death due to the fact that they could buy the beverages for an affordable price.

“Because it is cheap, they keep buying. For example, they will come in the morning to buy N100 worth of the drink. In the afternoon and evening, they do the same. They don’t know that they are drinking their lives away,” he said.

Meanwhile, the members of the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria have stated that they will storm the office of NAFDAC in Lagos to protest the ban.