NAFDAC Weighs Blacklisting as Sachet Alcohol Defiance Persists

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NAFDAC Director-General Mojisola Adeyeye said the agency is weighing blacklisting and asset seizure against manufacturers still producing banned sachet alcohol and sub-200ml PET bottles. She raised the threat during a Channels Television interview on Thursday, months after the federal ban took full effect.

The warning followed a raid on three factories in Ogun State. Inspectors found sachet nylon and 100ml bottles still running on production lines, alongside packaging materials dated 23 July, just four days before the sealing.

Some manufacturers went further than simply restarting old lines. NAFDAC alleges companies relocated equipment to unregistered premises and stripped signboards to dodge detection, describing the pattern as deliberate evasion rather than delayed compliance.

Drinkabl.media’s earlier reporting on the crackdown described a shift from policy to enforcement. This week’s disclosures complicate that read. Some manufacturers are choosing to absorb legal risk rather than give up the volume sachets deliver among low-income buyers.

Adeyeye is now weighing blacklisting for offending firms and invoking the Proceeds of Crime Act to confiscate assets tied to the violations, on top of existing seizure and prosecution powers.

Enforcement capacity remains thin. NAFDAC has roughly 2,000 staff covering 240 million people, against about 20,000 for Indonesia’s 280 million. Adeyeye said the agency needs at least 5,000 more inspectors to keep pace nationwide.

“We are doing this because of the children, not because of adults.”
— Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC Director-General

Adeyeye pointed to NAFDAC survey data showing underage drinkers most often obtained alcohol through sachets. That framing does not settle the operational question hanging over the market: whether persistent underground production pushes the segment toward the counterfeit channel drinkers have already started flagging, rather than closing it down.

NAFDAC says a decision on sanctions against the Ogun factories is expected once investigations determine how many manufacturers remain non-compliant.


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