By Biola Lawal
Abuja (Flowerbudnews): The Management of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has clarified that the ban on production of alcohol drinks in sachets was not hasty but phased over a give year period for easy implementation.
NAFDAC Director General, Prof Moji Adeyeye stated in a statement on Thursday in Abuja that the ban was ”in line with the 5-year phase-out plan of the affected presentations of alcoholic beverages which began in January 2019 and ended on 31st January 2024.”
Prof . Adeyeye said that the actions taken on sachet alcohol was ”pursuant to the powers conferred on it by the NAFDAC Act, and in keeping with the mandate of ‘safeguarding public health.”
Flowerbudnews recalls that NAFDAC recently began the implementation of the ban on the production of alcoholic beverages in sachets and small volume PET and glass bottles (below 200mls).
Prof. Adeyeye said, ”It is important to emphasize that the ban was not a unilateral regulatory action but is being implemented on the strength of the recommendation of a high-powered Committee of the Federal Ministry of Health and NAFDAC on one hand, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC),
”and the Industry represented by the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE), and the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN), in December 2018.”
The DG stated further, ”It is also important to clarify that the implementation of the ban on alcohol in sachets and small volume PET and glass bottles was not hasty, and is in line with the 5-year phase-out plan of the affected presentations of alcoholic beverages which began in January 2019 and ended on 31st January 2024.”
She stated that ‘:the 5 year period granted the industry stakeholders offered 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)”
Prof Adeyeye stressed that ”for the avoidance of doubt, it is important to emphasize that the ban only affects 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,” the DG clarified further.
Prof Adeyeye reiterated NAFDAC commitment to continuously protect public health, saying, ”NAFDAC remains fully alive to her responsibilities and is committed to putting the health of Nigerians in the forefront of regulatory actions.”
”Our population’s health is the wealth of our nation. The primary focus of the ban on easily accessible, affordable, portable presentations of high content alcohol in sachets and small volume PET and glass bottles below 200mls is in the interest of safeguarding the health of our under-aged, vulnerable children and the larger society. Beyond the negative health consequences,” Prof Adeyeye stated.
The NAFDAC Boss said that ”the ban is also in the interest of curbing increasing social vices attributable to the harmful use of alcohol.,”
”We use this medium to solicit the continued support, cooperation, and collaboration of Nigerians in the task of safeguarding the health of the nation, and in this particular instance, to safeguard the lives and future of our young generation of productive Nigerians. Health is wealth,” the DG counseled.
”We need a population of healthy and productive Nigerians to create wealth and prosperity for our dear nation. God bless Nigeria, ” she noted.
NAFDAC………safeguarding the health of the Nation, she concluded the statement (Flowerbudnews)
