Fatimah Otunsanya
The Senate has ordered the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to enforce the ban on the production and sale of alcoholic drinks in sachets and small plastic bottles by December 2025.
The Red Chamber insisted that there will be no further extension of the deadline.
The directive followed a motion sponsored by Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong (Cross River South), who expressed concerns over the repeated postponement of the ban despite the rising health and social problems linked to the consumption of cheap alcohol.
Ekpenyong noted that NAFDAC had shifted the phase-out date several times, from 2023 to 2024 and later to 2025, due to pressure from manufacturers.
He warned that any additional delay would amount to “a betrayal of public trust and a violation of Nigeria’s commitment to global health standards.”
Packaging alcohol in sachets makes it as easy to consume as sweets, even for children,” Ekpenyong said.
It promotes addiction, impairs mental and motor development, and fuels domestic violence, accidents, and crime.”
The motion enjoyed bipartisan support, with senators condemning the growing sale of high-alcohol-content sachet drinks across the country.
Senator Anthony Ani (APC – Ebonyi South) described the products as a “social menace destroying lives and futures,” especially among minors.
These drinks are cheap, potent, and everywhere, in schools, markets, and motor parks,” Ani lamented. “Every day we delay, more young Nigerians fall into addiction and violence.”
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who presided over the session, said the issue was both a moral and national health emergency.
This is not just a policy matter, it’s a life-saving decision,” Akpabio declared. “By December 2025, sachet alcohol must become history in Nigeria.”
The lawmakers decried the rising cases of underage drinking, road accidents and domestic violence linked to the easy access and affordability of sachet-packaged alcohol, describing them as “silent poisons” undermining productivity and family stability.
NigeriaTodayTimes recalls that Nigeria had in 2018 signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with industry stakeholders, including NAFDAC, the Federal Ministry of Health, and the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers, to phase out high-strength alcohol in sachets.
The agreement expired in 2023 but was extended to December 2025 to allow manufacturers to adjust.