Nigeria: Sachet Alcohol Is a Monster Destroying Our Children's Future - NAFDAC DG

What the report says

NAFDAC Director-General Mojisola Adeyeye has renewed her criticism of sachet alcohol, calling it a major threat to Nigerian children and young people. In remarks reported by Leadership and distributed by AllAfrica, she said the small-pack drinks encourage harmful alcohol use and can damage the brain, kidneys, and liver, while also contributing to wider social problems. She made the comments in Abuja on a Wednesday appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, amid debate over the agency’s ban on sachet alcohol and other alcoholic drinks sold in containers below 200 millilitres.

Adeyeye said NAFDAC expected resistance from manufacturers, distributors, and other affected stakeholders, arguing that public-health measures often clash with commercial interests. She said the products were approved around three decades ago, but that the long-term consequences of their widespread availability were not fully understood at the time. NAFDAC has since moved to enforce restrictions, including closing three major companies for three weeks and obtaining written undertakings from manufacturers not to produce alcohol in sachets or other sub-200 ml containers.

The agency head also pointed to the Federal Ministry of Health’s National Alcohol Policy, which includes limits on sachet alcohol and similar packaging. She said protests, including ones in Ibadan, showed that some opponents were focusing on short-term economic concerns rather than health risks. More broadly, the issue reflects a continuing tension in Nigeria between alcohol industry interests and efforts by regulators to curb youth access and reduce public-health harms.