The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has finally banned the sale of alcoholic beverages produced in sachets less than 200ml.
The agency said the five-year window given to the manufacturers of the products to stop producing the drinks in sachets and pet bottles which began in 2018 expired on January 31, 2024, with the ban commencing on February 1, 2024.
The director-general of NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, while addressing journalists in Abuja on Monday, said the ban was not a sudden development but rather, a result of a multilateral Committee which agreed that the ban would be in phases whereby production would be reduced by 50 per cent by 2020 while outright ban would be on January 31, 2024.
According to Prof Adeyeye, the agency took the route of banning drinks in such sachets because of the negative effects on underage children. She said because the drinks come in pocket-friendly sizes, accessible and affordable, children easily fell for the packages only to face the consequences in the future.
