The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says the ban on the production of alcoholic beverages in sachets and small volume PET and glass bottles below 200mls was a collective decision.

The agency’s director-general, Mojisola Adeyeye, made this known in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

She emphasised that the ban was a collective recommendation of a committee and listed representatives such as the Federal Ministry of Health, NAFDAC, and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).

Other representatives are the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) and the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN).

She explained that the recommendation to ban these categories of alcohol was not hasty, as it had been a five-year phase-out plan.

Ms said the ban “is in line with the five-year phase-out plan of the affected presentations of alcoholic beverages, which started in January 2019 and ended on January 31, 2024.

“The five-year period granted to the industry stakeholders was a practical, reasonable and sufficient time for full compliance with the phase-out of the production of alcoholic beverages in sachets and small volume PET and glass bottles below 200mls.

“Other presentations of alcoholic beverages are not affected by the ban, and therefore are still permitted for manufacture, importation, distribution, sale and use in Nigeria.”

Ms Adeyeye said NAFDAC remained fully alive to her responsibilities and committed to putting the health of Nigerians in the forefront of regulatory actions, as the population’s health was the nation’s wealth.

She added that the ban’s primary focus was its accessibility, affordability, and portable presentation of high-content alcohol in sachets and small-volume PET and glass bottles below 200mls.

Ms Adeyeye explained that the ban is in the interest of the health of the under-aged, vulnerable children and the larger society beyond the negative health consequences.

According to her, the ban is also to curb increasing vices attributable to the harmful use of alcohol.

She, therefore, called for continued support, cooperation and collaboration of Nigerians in safeguarding the nation’s health.

(NAN)