By Afolayan Sunday
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has issued a strong warning, linking the indiscriminate consumption and easy accessibility of alcohol to the rising wave of banditry and criminality across Nigeria.
Speaking during a media interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, NAFDAC Director-General Professor Mojisola Adeyeye emphasized that the unchecked proliferation of cheap alcoholic substances is fueling severe social vices and threatening national security.
Adeyeye, a professor, explained that the substance was dangerous to organs in the human body, including the brain, kidneys, and liver.
She said that the sale of alcohol in sachets and PET bottles was approved decades ago but became uncontrollable, prompting NAFDAC to ensure that alcohol sold in less than 200ml is banned.
She said that though the ban did not sit well with some people, Nigerians are concerned about the future of their children.
“You know, when you are doing something that is right, something that is going to safeguard the health of our people, something that is going to foster trade, you will step on toes and get pushback. We are surprised by the pushback.
“We have done a great deal over the last six months, or eight months, in terms of sachet alcohol. This sachet alcohol was approved maybe 30 years ago, and when it was approved, I don’t think my predecessor who did the approval knew what was going to happen.
“But this monster became uncontrollable. This monster stood out to destroy the future of our workforce, of our children.
“And what did NAFDAC do? NAFDAC made sure that sachet alcohol less than 200mil is banned,” the DG said. “We shut down the three major companies for three weeks and put some people behind bars. That, I believe, is not sitting well, but Nigeria is pleading for our own children. That is why the ban is now in place.”
Adeyeye said that though the agency made the manufacturers sign an undertaking that they would never manufacture alcohol in sachets and small bottles of less than 200 ml, it did not sit well with them.
“In Ibadan, some people came out, even after the National Alcohol Policy was launched by the Ministry of Health, and that alcohol policy includes a ban on sachet alcohol and alcohol in PET bottles less than 200 ml.
“They were demonstrating because they are seeing the situation now; they are not seeing into the future that alcohol destroys the brain, it destroys the lungs, it destroys the kidneys, the liver; it encourages banditry,” she added.
