The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has uncovered clandestine factories producing banned sachet alcohol and alcoholic beverages packaged in PET bottles below 200ml, shutting down three manufacturing plants in Ogun State as part of its nationwide enforcement of the Federal Government’s ban.
The crackdown also turned violent, with regulatory officers attacked while carrying out enforcement operations, underscoring growing resistance from operators accused of flouting the prohibition.
The discoveries were made during an ongoing nationwide mop-up operation launched by the agency to enforce the Federal Government’s ban on the production, importation, distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages packaged in sachets and PET bottles below 200ml.
Speaking during a media briefing in Lagos on Tuesday, NAFDAC Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said the agency’s enforcement teams uncovered widespread violations in Lagos, Ogun and several other states, revealing that some manufacturers had continued producing the prohibited products despite repeated warnings and the full implementation of the ban.
According to her, the agency recovered 100ml banned PET bottles and rolls of sachet alcohol packaging materials bearing production dates as recent as July 23, 2026, indicating that some companies were still manufacturing the products only days before the enforcement raids.
“These were not leftover stocks. These manufacturers were producing banned products this very month, even after the ban had taken full effect and after NAFDAC had engaged them,” Adeyeye said.
She disclosed that some manufacturers relocated production lines to hidden, unregistered facilities to evade regulators, while others removed company signboards and identifying marks from their factories in an attempt to conceal their operations.
“In one facility, officers found crates of finished products stacked alongside 100ml bottles positioned close to production machines. We will find these facilities wherever they are hidden, and they will be brought to book,” she said.
As part of the crackdown, NAFDAC sealed three alcohol manufacturing companies in Ota, Ogun State, after uncovering multiple breaches of the ban.
The agency said the enforcement operation, led by Assistant Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Kunle Ojo, revealed that one of the affected factories was actively producing sachet alcohol alongside large quantities of PET bottles when inspectors first visited.
Although the company was directed to suspend production, a follow-up inspection showed that the sachet alcohol previously placed under regulatory hold had been secretly removed from the premises.
NAFDAC described the action as a serious violation because the products were already under official enforcement.
A second factory was found to have continued producing sachet alcoholic beverages despite the prohibition and was immediately sealed.
At a third company, officials found that 22 production machines, sealed by NAFDAC since January, had been illegally reopened and returned to operation to continue manufacturing sachet alcohol.
The agency said millions of PET bottles and sachet packaging materials were recovered from the facility and confiscated for destruction before the factory was sealed.
However, the enforcement operation turned violent in some locations, with NAFDAC officials coming under attack while carrying out their duties.
Adeyeye disclosed that one enforcement officer was threatened with a weapon and nearly stabbed, while another was slapped and pushed by suspected violators attempting to obstruct the operation.
She described the attacks as criminal acts and warned that those responsible would face prosecution.
“An attack on a NAFDAC officer carrying out lawful regulatory duty is an attack on the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It will be investigated and prosecuted,” she said. NigerianPolitics Coverage
The Director-General reiterated that the ban on sachet alcohol and alcoholic beverages packaged in containers below 200ml was irreversible, warning that manufacturers, distributors and retailers who continued to produce or trade in the prohibited products would face severe sanctions.
“Manufacturers found still producing will have their facilities shut down. Products found in the market will be seized and destroyed. Distributors and retailers found handling these products will face sanctions,” she said.
Adeyeye explained that the ban followed an eight-year regulatory process that began in 2018, after mounting evidence linked cheap, portable alcoholic products to rising alcohol consumption among children and adolescents.
She said manufacturers were initially granted a five-year transition period to adjust their operations, but repeated requests for extensions delayed full enforcement until the Federal Government directed NAFDAC to commence implementation.
According to her, the Senate, through resolutions adopted in November 2025, instructed the agency not to grant any further extension and urged all relevant government institutions to support enforcement of the policy.
She said the decision was informed by growing public health concerns over the widespread availability of sachet alcohol in kiosks, motor parks, roadside stalls and other informal outlets where minors could easily purchase the products.
“We are not against alcohol. Adults can decide what they consume. But children should not have easy access to highly concentrated alcohol packaged in forms that are cheap, portable and easy to conceal,” Adeyeye said.
She added that the agency was strengthening intelligence gathering and exploring the use of artificial intelligence to monitor online marketing and distribution of regulated products as part of efforts to curb illegal production and sales.
NAFDAC said the nationwide mop-up operation would continue until all prohibited sachet alcohol and sub-200ml PET alcoholic beverages were removed from circulation, urging Nigerians to stop purchasing the products and to report manufacturers, distributors and retailers violating the ban.