Employees of companies producing sachet alcohol, alongside some civil society organisations, have hinted at the possibility of a nationwide protest if the ban on sachet alcohol beverages and PET bottles below 200ml is not reversed.
The employees made this known on Monday when they stormed the Lagos office of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway to protest the ban, three days after their last demonstration.
PUNCH Online reported on Friday that employees under the aegis of the Food, Beverages, and Tobacco Senior Staff Association and the National Union of Food, Beverages, and Tobacco Employees had besieged the NAFDAC office to express their grievances over disruptions to their companies’ operations.
They had warned that no fewer than five million Nigerians would be affected, directly and indirectly, by the ban.
Following the Friday protest, the Director-General of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye, engaged with the protesters’ leaders. However, Adeyeye insisted that the ban would remain in effect until legislation changed. At the protest on Monday, employees under the aegis of FOBTOB and NUFBTE, joined by members of the Coalition for the Protection of Consumers’ Rights, were seen carrying placards and singing solidarity songs.
Speaking with journalists, the National President of FOBTOB, Oyibo Jimoh, said engagements with the House of Representatives were aimed at developing a national alcohol policy that would cater to the interests of all stakeholders without an outright ban.
“It will affect many staff, and I could be one of them. I also have a family that survives on my income, including extended family members. You can imagine the multiplier effect of this decision.