A renewed push by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to ban the production and sale of alcoholic beverages in sachets and small PET bottles could destroy more than N400 billion in investments and threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs across Nigeria’s alcoholic beverages value chain, according to joint warnings from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA).
In a strongly worded article published on Monday, MAN Director-General Segun Ajayi-Kadir and NECA Director-General Adewale Oyerinde said the sector supports over 500,000 direct and indirect jobs — spanning manufacturing, quality control, distribution, logistics, packaging, retail, hospitality, and agriculture (including farmers supplying grains and other raw materials).
They estimated that investments specifically tied to production lines, packaging technology, and logistics designed for sachet and small PET formats exceed N400 billion. The broader wines and spirits value chain generated more than N2 trillion in revenue in 2024 and contributes significantly to excise duties, VAT, and other tax receipts.
The two leaders stressed that both organisations fully support public health goals and measures to prevent underage drinking. However, they argued that banning sachet alcohol produced by registered and regulated companies will not solve alcohol abuse or protect minors.
“Such a ban will only open the floodgates for unregulated, smuggled, and unwholesome variants,” they wrote. “It will lead to job losses, loss of investment, loss of government revenues, value-chain disruption, and decimation of livelihoods.”
They criticised what they described as regulatory inconsistency. The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation directed a suspension of the ban on December 15, 2025, to allow further stakeholder engagement, and the House of Representatives had earlier called for restraint following a public hearing. Proceeding despite these directives, they said, undermines confidence in Nigeria’s regulatory environment, discourages investment, and erodes trust between government, regulators, and the private sector.
The joint statement comes as NAFDAC intensifies enforcement actions, including factory inspections, product seizures, and compliance demands. MAN and NECA urged that any regulation must be evidence-based, proportionate, and coherent allowing time for consultation, transition support, and alternatives that address public health concerns without catastrophic economic fallout.
The alcoholic beverages industry remains one of Nigeria’s largest formal employers in the consumer goods space. A sudden ban on sachet and small-pack formats, they warned, risks pushing activity into informal and unregulated channels where tax collection, product safety, and worker protections are far weaker.
As the debate intensifies, attention is turning to whether the government will honour earlier suspension directives and pursue a balanced approach that protects public health while preserving jobs, investments, and revenue streams critical to Nigeria’s economy.
