By Victor Ahiuma-Young

The Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association, FOBTOB, has issued a strong appeal to the Senate and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, urging them to halt the planned ban on alcoholic beverages in sachets and PET/glass bottles below 200ml.

This is as the Association advised the Senate and NAFDAC to instead adopt a six-point regulatory solution validated in the draft National Alcohol Policy.

Speaking in Lagos, FOBTOB President, Jimoh Oyibo, condemned the Senate’s directive to NAFDAC to enforce the ban by December 31, 2025, describing the move as hasty, one-sided, and economically dangerous. 

He noted that the same ban had been reversed last year after the House of Representatives convened a public hearing where all stakeholders—including NAFDAC—presented their positions.

Oyibo explained that the Ministry of Health subsequently granted a one-year extension to allow for full stakeholder engagement, leading to the validation of a National Alcohol Policy in October 2025. 

NAFDAC, he emphasized, was part of the committee that endorsed the final draft.

According to him: “It is therefore shocking that the same NAFDAC has now approached the Senate seeking immediate implementation of a ban it previously agreed should be reviewed.”

FOBTOB outlined the six key recommendations in the validated policy, including establishment of licensed liquor stores across all LGAs; strengthening law enforcement; multi-sectoral action plans; increased monitoring by NAFDAC and FCCPC; public enlightenment campaigns to curb underage access; and nationwide education in secondary schools on the dangers of alcohol misuse.

Oyibo stressed that this structured approach, not a blanket ban, is what Nigeria needs. 

He faulted NAFDAC’s claims that minors significantly abuse small-volume alcoholic beverages, citing independent government studies that contradict the assumption.

“Industry players have spent over one billion naira promoting responsible drinking and discouraging underage access,” he noted.

He reiterated the earlier warning that the ban would be economically devastating, placing nearly N 2 trillion in industry investment at risk, while threatening over 500,000 direct jobs and more than five million indirect livelihoods. 

Indigenous manufacturers, he said, could collapse under the weight of the policy, undermining confidence in Nigerian enterprise.

Beyond job losses, FOBTOB cautioned that the ban would trigger widespread production of adulterated, unregulated alcoholic products and open the door for smugglers to flood the market with foreign alternatives, resulting in massive revenue losses for government.