NAFDAC incinerated thousands of alcoholic drinks packaged in sachets and PET bottles below 200ml at the Kuje dumpsite in Abuja last week, part of a destruction exercise covering over N1.8 billion in banned and counterfeit regulated products seized across the capital and neighbouring areas.
The sub-200ml alcohol packaging ban has been on the books for years. The scale of this destruction suggests enforcement has not kept pace with supply, and that banned stock continues to move through distribution channels with enough volume to justify organised restocking.
Dr. Martins Iluyomade, Director of Investigation and Enforcement, disclosed that the agency had recently intercepted several containers at Nigerian ports carrying products falsely declared on shipping manifests, a detail that points to an import-side supply chain for banned packaging rather than purely local production.
Some of the destroyed products had been seized during enforcement operations. Others were voluntarily surrendered by companies, NGOs, and the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, with fake pharmaceuticals making up part of the broader haul.
NAFDAC warned that traders found selling or possessing sub-200ml packaged alcohol face enforcement action and possible prosecution. The agency called on the public to report suspicious products through its call centre.
The harder question for distributors is whether that prosecution posture holds beyond the destruction exercise. Port interdiction and public destruction events are visible enforcement. What happens in the informal channels between them is where the ban has historically lost ground.
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