The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) will begin the enforcement of the total ban on sachet and small bottle alcohol in January 2026.
The NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed this at a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja.
She reaffirmed the agency’s unflinching commitment to protecting public health and emphasising that its responsibility to safeguard the nation’s wellbeing remained sacrosanct.
Adeyeye said the enforcement would ensure full compliance with the total ban on production and sale of alcoholic beverages in sachets and PET bottles below 200ml by December 2025.
She explained that the move aligned with the recent Senate directive and was fully supported by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to protect Nigerians from harmful alcohol consumption.
According to Adeyeye, the measure underscores NAFDAC’s statutory duty to safeguard public health and shield vulnerable groups, especially children and young adults, from the harmful consequences of excessive alcohol consumption.
She warned that proliferation of high-alcohol-content beverages in sachets and small containers made them affordable and concealable, contributing to addiction, misuse, and reckless behaviour among minors and commercial drivers.
The NAFDAC boss added that the menace had been linked to increased domestic violence, road crashes, school dropouts, and several social vices, which had continued to destabilise families and communities nationwide.
“In December 2018, NAFDAC, the Federal Ministry of Health, and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) and the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN).
“The agreement initially set Jan. 31, 2024, as the deadline but was later extended to December 2025 to allow manufacturers reconfigure facilities and exhaust existing stock,” she explained.
She said the new Senate resolution aligned with that agreement and Nigeria’s commitment to the World Health Organisation’s Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol, adopted in 2010.
“This ban is not punitive but protective. It aims to secure the health and future of our children and youth, based on scientific evidence and global public health standards,” Adeyeye stated.
She stressed that NAFDAC would not continue to compromise Nigerians’ wellbeing for short-term economic gains, emphasising that a nation’s true wealth lied in the health of its people.
