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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has commenced a nationwide enforcement operation to remove alcoholic beverages packaged in sachets and polyethylene terephthalate bottles below 200 millilitres from circulation, reinforcing the federal government’s ban on the products.
The agency said in a statement on Wednesday that enforcement teams were conducting coordinated operations across the six geopolitical zones in markets, motor parks, retail outlets, bars, and other distribution channels to identify, seize, and destroy the banned products.
The operation follows the closure of manufacturing facilities found to have violated the ban.
NAFDAC advised manufacturers, importers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, hawkers and transporters to voluntarily surrender any remaining stock of the banned alcoholic beverages, warning that continued possession or sale would attract seizure, regulatory sanctions and prosecution.
“The enforcement operations across the country will not be a one-off operation but part of a sustained enforcement and public education campaign,” the agency said.
“This campaign is aimed at ridding Nigeria of harmful alcohol products, protecting children and adolescents, and promoting responsible alcohol consumption among adults”.
The agency clarified that the enforcement was not directed at compliant manufacturers operating within approved pack-size thresholds but was targeted at eliminating products that pose significant public health risks.
NAFDAC called on Nigerians to support the exercise by reporting anyone producing, stocking, or selling the banned sachet and below-200ml PET-bottle alcoholic beverages, and urged the public to avoid patronising the products, describing them as unregistered, unsafe, and illegal.
