The Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) has urged the Nigerian National Assembly to expedite passage of the National Alcohol Control Policy Bill to support the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in its nationwide enforcement of the ban on sale of alcoholic beverages packaged in sachets and polyethylene terephthalate bottles.
RDI made the demand as NAFDAC teams commenced enforcement of the ban on the products in Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, in an exercise targeting markets, motor parks, retail outlets, bars and other distribution channels where the agency is identifying, seizing and removing the products from circulation.
The House of Representatives had on May 7, 2026, passed the Bill for an Act to Provide for the Control, Regulation and Reduction of Alcohol-Related Harm in Nigeria for a second reading.
The bill, sponsored by Hon. Oluwatimehin Adelegbe, targets the production, marketing, and consumption of alcohol to protect minors.
RDI said the legislators has the complementary task of sustaining the ongoing efforts of NAFDAC in guaranteeing the protection of adolescents and the vulnerable from alcohol harm by speeding up their work and ensuring the passage of the bill before the expiration of the 10th National Assembly.
Philip Jakpor, RDI Executive Director, said NAFDAC has demonstrated its commitment to ridding the public space of harmful alcohol products.
“By matching words with action, NAFDAC has demonstrated its commitment to ridding the public space of harmful alcohol products and this would in turn improve public health outcomes especially among young people that the alcohol industry targets with their products. The National Assembly must no longer delay in playing its role,” Jakpor said.
Beyond the enforcement of the ban, Jakpor said the Federal Government must go a step further by fully implementing the World Health Organization’s SAFER technical package, which includes advertising bans.
The SAFER initiative promotes five high-impact strategies to help governments prevent and reduce alcohol harm and related health, social and economic consequences.
They include strengthening restrictions on alcohol availability, advancing and enforcing drink driving countermeasures, and facilitating access to screening, brief interventions, and treatment.
The package also recommends enforcement of bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion, and encourages governments to raise prices on alcohol through excise taxes and pricing policies.
Jakpor said the NAFDAC enforcement exercise, if sustained, will cascade to households that would now prioritize channeling their income from alcohol to basic necessities like nutrition and child education.
“The ball is now in the court of the NASS. It must escalate work on the Bill so that the health and economic benefits of reducing underage drinking, youth addiction, and rising health burdens associated with alcohol would be met in a short time,” Jakpor recommended.
The ban on alcoholic beverages in sachets and small PET bottles is part of efforts to curb easy access to high-alcohol content products, particularly among young people, who health advocates say are disproportionately targeted by manufacturers through cheap and readily available packaging formats.
