. As labour protests jobs, investments losses,
By Stanley Onyeka, Lagos
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has urged the immediate reversal on the recent ban placed on alcoholic drinks in sachets and PET bottles less than 200ml.
MAN advised that instead of an outright ban, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), should replace the decision with regulations and better access controls.
It said: “The ban should be reversed immediately and replaced with licensed liquor stores/outlets across the country…”
This is even as labour movement, including the Trade Union Congress (TUC) the Food, Beverages, and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB), embarked on a protest over the ban at the NAFDAC office in Lagos.
According to labour, the ban potentially threatens about 45,000 jobs and billions of Naira in investments and called for a reversal.
In a statement issued by the Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, MAN said the ban will be counterproductive.
The manufacturers called for stricter access control, including the establishment of licensed liquor stores/outlets by local government areas (LGAs) across the country; and show of identity by suspected underaged persons (under 18) to purchase alcoholic beverages as practised in some other climes.
Others are tightening enforcement by law enforcement agencies; and increased monitoring and compliance checks by NAFDAC, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), and others to ensure strict product quality in terms of content and safety.
MAN insisted that the ban would amount to a deliberate destruction of the business of local and indigenous investors, who through thick and thin have kept faith with the Nigerian economy.
Kadir said: “Going back in time when NAFDAC first proposed the ban, critical stakeholders including key members of Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN) raised concerns in a letter dated November 11, 2018.”
He noted that DIBAN also participated in the preparation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which was signed, with reservations, on December 18, 2018, by the Federal Ministry of Health, NAFDAC, CPC (now FCCPC) and Association of Food, Beverages, and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) and themselves.
If this administration is committed to encouraging and strengthening local investors, then this ban should give way to access control.
Extensive advocacy, investments
Thereafter, Kadir recalled that DIBAN commenced extensive advocacy, messaging, training, education, and other roles assigned to the Committee that was formed and spent over N1 billion on various campaigns to ensure zero consumption of alcoholic beverages by under-aged and in promoting responsible use of alcoholic beverages among adults.
He continued: “The plan was drawn up to identify factors that affect irresponsible consumption of alcoholic beverages; factors responsible for underage drinking, implement strategies guided by best global practices and national priorities towards strengthening regulatory activities; strengthen implementation structures through effective collaboration to ensure sustainability and generate evidence through effective monitoring and evaluation for learning and accountability.
“Some of the key activities included harmonising all relevant alcohol and alcohol consumption related laws and regulations, improving regulation of registered alcoholic beverages and imported alcoholic beverages including spirits, shut down unregistered alcoholic beverage factories and warehouses as well as monitoring advocacy, sensitisation campaigns and regulatory/committee activities.
“We all agreed that there should be collaborative efforts to eliminate underage drinking or use of alcoholic beverages; better regulations backed by informed policy and not a general ban on the production and sales of drinks in sachet and PET bottles and the sale of alcoholic beverages should be restricted to On-and Off-license shops and ALGON should be strengthened to oversee the process.
“We also agreed that there should be government support to promote and protect the growth of local industries and jobs through the balance of trade, tackling of fake, counterfeit, and unwholesome alcoholic beverages and strict monitoring and evaluation of efforts by all member organisations of the committee.
“To our greatest surprise, we realised the apparent preoccupation of NAFDAC to ban the production of drinks in sachets and PET bottles this year.
“This is at variance with the right of private entrepreneurs to invest and engage in legitimate business. Besides, the proposed policy would amount to a deliberate destruction of the business of local and indigenous investors who through thick and thin, have kept faith with the Nigerian economy.
“We have continued to invest and reinvest at enormous cost in this economy and in the Nigerian people who are the bulk of its nearly 500,000 people workforces.
“This is in spite of the daunting challenges that businesses have faced in the difficult times, which if we must emphasise, has led to several companies closing down and foreign investors leaving the country.
“If this administration is committed to encouraging and strengthening local investors, then this ban should give way to access control.”
Kadir added that “If you take away small sizes, you are encouraging excessive consumption of alcohol.
“To go ahead with the policy based on perceived danger, without empirical information and not minding the consequences is unfair to the industry operators, the thousands of workers that will lose their jobs and which will be inimical to the Nigerian economy.”
During the protest, the TUC and FOBTOB argued that the ban could lead to a significant increase in unemployment and economic hardship and urged the government to be more creative in addressing underage drinking and environmental littering without resorting to outright banning.
The unions insisted that the ban unfairly targets sachet drinks would lead to the closure of many companies, as up to 500,000 workers could be rendered jobless, and appealed to the Federal Government and NAFDAC to reverse the ban.
