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Organised Labour, yesterday, stormed the Lagos office of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, over the ban and shut down of production lines of companies manufacturing alcoholic drinks in sachets and small bottles below 200ml.
Led by leaders of Trade Union Congress, TUC, of Nigeria and Food, Beverages and Tobacco Senior Staff Association, FOBTOB, Labour rejected the ban on the production of alcoholic beverages in sachets and small bottles by the Federal Government, saying no fewer than 45,000 jobs and billions of Naira investments are at the risk of going down the drain.
The protesting workers, who stormed NAFDAC’s office at Plot 1, Industrial Estate, Apapa-Oshodi expressway, Isolo, Lagos State, displayed placards with various inscriptions, to convey their grievances.
The protest followed a two-day enforcement exercise by NAFDAC operatives in Ota, Ogun State, leading to the shutting down of some factories,
NAFDAC seals production lines
Vanguard gathered that NAFDAC’s enforcement’s team was led by Mr. Adeniran Kazeem, which swooped on beverage firms in the Sango-Ota area of Ogun State, sealed the production lines in companies such as Shash Industries Limited located in Iyesi- Ota, Nigerian Distilleries Limited, Intercontinental Distilleries Limited among others.
Speaking on what led to the operations, Kazeem said “There was a committee of the Federal Ministry of Health and NAFDAC on one hand, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC, and the Industry represented by the Association of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Employers, AFBTE, Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria, DIBAN, in December 2018. The committee agreed that such items should no longer be produced or imported from December 31, 2023.
The five years period of grace is to allow the manufacturers to dispose of whatever they still had in stock. NAFDAC has since stopped to approve the production or importation of such items by anybody in this country.
We are surprised that the companies are still producing these items. The main reason is because they find it easy to sell such, as they are affordable than other sizes. However, they are not mindful of the negative effects of such on the society as a whole.
“It leads to abuse of alcohol because young children and even pupils in elementary schools are drinking such items and it is affecting them. Do we want to turn our society to that of drunks? After five years of grace, we expect the firms to have diversified to other things and save the country from societal and moral decadence. “
The team took inventory of the items found in those companies and Kazeem said they would be evacuated and destroyed.