By Adesewa Adewale
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has linked the indiscriminate consumption of alcohol to banditry in Nigeria, warning that excessive alcohol use can also damage vital organs of the human body.
NAFDAC Director-General, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, made the disclosure during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday.
Adeyeye said alcohol poses serious risks to organs, including the brain, kidneys and liver. She noted that the sale of alcohol in small sachets and PET bottles had been approved decades ago but eventually became difficult to control.
The NAFDAC boss acknowledged that the ban did not sit well with some people but said the agency was concerned about protecting the future of Nigerian children.
Her words, “You know, when you are doing something that is right, something that is going to safeguard the health of our people, something that is going to foster trade, you will step on toes and get pushback. We are surprised by the pushback.
“We have done a great deal over the last six months, or eight months, in terms of sachet alcohol. This sachet alcohol was approved maybe 30 years ago, and when it was approved, I don’t think my predecessor who did the approval knew what was going to happen.
“But this monster became uncontrollable. This monster stood out to destroy the future of our workforce, of our children.
“And what did NAFDAC do? NAFDAC made sure that sachet alcohol less than 200ml is banned,” the DG said. “We shut down the three major companies for three weeks and put some people behind bars. That, I believe, is not sitting well, but Nigeria is pleading for our own children. That is why the ban is now in place.”
Speaking further, Adeyeye said that though the agency made the manufacturers sign an undertaking that they would never manufacture alcohol in sachets and small bottles of less than 200 ml, it did not sit well with them.
“In Ibadan, some people came out, even after the National Alcohol Policy was launched by the Ministry of Health, and that alcohol policy includes a ban on sachet alcohol and alcohol in PET bottles less than 200 ml.
“They were demonstrating because they are seeing the situation now; they are not seeing into the future that alcohol destroys the brain, it destroys the lungs, it destroys the kidneys, the liver; it encourages banditry,” she added.
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