By Ijeoma Wilfred
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has announced a ban on the production of alcoholic beverages in sachets and small bottles below 200ml.
This was disclosed by the Director-General of the Agency, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, at a news conference on Monday in Abuja.
The NAFDAC boss said that the move was aimed at discouraging its consumption by youths who easily accessed the products in such containers at an affordable cost.
While explaining that the decision aligned with recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for policy-makers to regulate the marketing of alcoholic beverages to young people, with the goal of controlling and restricting the availability of the products, Adeyeye noted the adverse effects of alcoholic drinks on the younger generation, hence the ban.
Speaking further Adeyeye said that the WHO had established that children who consume alcohol are more likely to use drugs, get bad grades, suffer injury or death, engage in risky sexual activity, make bad decisions and have health challenges.
She recalled that the agency in January 2022, suspended the registration of alcoholic beverages in sachet and small volume PET and Glass bottles below 200ml.
According to her,the decision was made at the end of its committee meeting attended by the Federal Ministry of Health and NAFDAC; the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and other relevant agencies.
“As commitment to the decision reached at the end of this committee meeting, producers of alcohol in sachets and small volume agreed to reduce the production by 5 per cent with effect from 31st January 2022.
“On the part of the agency, NAFDAC committed to ensure that the validity of renewal of already registered alcoholic products in the affected category does not exceed the year 2024.
“The people who are mostly at risk of the negative effect of consumption of the banned pack sizes of alcoholic beverages are the under-aged and commercial vehicle drivers and riders,“ she said.
She further explained that harmful consumption of alcohol was being linked to more than 200 health conditions including infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, and non-communicable conditions such as liver cirrhosis and cancer.
