Nigeria’s House of Representatives says the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is ready to lift the temporary ban placed on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages sachets and mini-bottles.
The House of Representatives had ordered NAFDAC to enforce its resolution that revoked the ban the agency placed on alcohol packed in sachets and pet bottles.
Deputy spokesman of the House and a member of the Committee on NAFDAC Hon. Philip Agbese at a press conference in Abuja on Friday disclosed that through the engagements with the agency and other stakeholders, it was agreed that implementation of the ban was at a wrong time, considering the present economic situation in the country.
He said the five year moratorium allowed for manufacturers to phase the drinks out expired was seemingly not enough for them to meet the deadline due effects of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The lawmaker said the Director General of NAFDAC, Professor Moji Adeyeye has agreed to take a second look at the ban “with a human face”.
He said:” There may be a temporary lift until a better time that the economy may have improved.”
Agbese said the basis of the ban was not health, but children’s unhindered access to such products.
According to Agbese, during the committee’s engagements, issues of Fundamental Human Rights were also raised bordering on people’s freedom of consumption and expression.
