The Senate has ordered the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to fully implement the ban on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages in sachets and small plastic bottles by December 2025.
The lawmakers also urged the Federal Ministry of Health to eliminate all administrative bottlenecks hindering NAFDAC’s enforcement process and to immediately release the long-awaited National Alcohol Policy, which prohibits sachet-packaged liquor.
The directive followed a motion moved by the lawmaker representing Cross River South Senatorial District, Asuquo Ekpenyong.
During plenary, Ekpenyong raised concerns that repeated extensions of the phase-out deadline had weakened regulatory efforts and posed serious public health risks.
He warned that the continued availability of sachet alcohol fuels youth addiction, road accidents, school dropouts, and domestic violence, emphasizing that failure to enforce the ban would further endanger public safety and undermine national health goals.
The resolution, adopted on Thursday after a lengthy debate, revisited a 2018 Memorandum of Understanding signed between NAFDAC, the Federal Ministry of Health, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), and industry stakeholders to gradually eliminate sachet alcoholic drinks due to their affordability and easy accessibility to youths.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who presided over the plenary, described the resolution as a “moral and national health necessity,” insisting that by December 2025, sachet alcohol “must become history in Nigeria.”
Public health experts have applauded the Senate’s decision, calling for consistent enforcement to ensure the policy effectively curbs alcohol abuse and protects vulnerable populations.
