Ban On Sachet Alcohol: Over N2trn Investment, 500,000 Jobs At Risk, FOBTOB Warns

The Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB) has warned that a proposed ban on alcoholic beverages in sachets and containers below 200ml threatens nearly N2 trillion investment and the livelihoods of over 500,000 direct employees.

The union has therefore, called on the Senate to convene a full stakeholders’ meeting before taking any further action.

FOBTOB made the appeal during a press conference on Tuesday in Lagos, urging the Senate to suspend its directive to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to enforce the ban by December 2025.

Comrade Jimoh Oyibo, its National President, cautioned that enforcing the directive would trigger significant economic losses, job cuts and the collapse of indigenous businesses.

According to Oyibo, the beverage sector has invested close to N2 trillion in machinery and raw materials, all now at risk.

He added that more than 500,000 direct workers and about five million indirect workers across supply, distribution and logistics stand to be affected.

Oyibo faulted the Senate for relying solely on NAFDAC’s submission, arguing that policymakers failed to grant fair hearing to other critical stakeholders.

He recalled that a similar ban imposed by NAFDAC last year was reversed after a House of Representatives public hearing that led to a one-year extension to enable the development and validation of a National Alcohol Policy in October 2025.

“The Senate appears to have listened to only one side. This is against the principles of fair hearing,” he said.

He explained that the validated National Alcohol Policy recommends improved enforcement mechanisms, licensing of liquor outlets, multi-sectoral action plans, stricter monitoring by agencies such as NAFDAC and FCCPC, and nationwide enlightenment campaigns—rather than an outright ban.

He argued that claims by NAFDAC that sachet alcohol is widely abused by minors had been debunked by independent, government-backed studies.

Despite this, the industry has spent over a billion naira on public campaigns promoting responsible drinking and discouraging underage consumption, Oyibo stated.

He warned that enforcing the ban would lead to: Loss of massive indigenous investments, decline in capacity utilisation across beverage companies, proliferation of adulterated and unregulated alcoholic products, increased smuggling of foreign alcoholic drinks and reduction in government revenue from taxation

The FOBTOB President, therefore urged the Senate to rescind its directive to NAFDAC pending a full public hearing, invite all relevant stakeholders, review and adopt the validated National Alcohol Policy, assess the impact on the entire value chain, and visit affected companies to observe the scale of investments at risk.