Director General (DG) of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Christianah Mojishola Adeyeye, has denied the publication and claims that the agency has lifted the ban on sachet alcoholic beverages and codeine-containing syrup.

The DG, lamented on Wednesday, in Lagos, during a press briefing that some newspapers and online publications, including other social media platforms, recently reported that the agency has lifted ban on alcoholic sachets, which is not true.

She noted that the ban on sachet alcoholic beverages was a Ministry of Health directive, adding that On Thursday, June 13, 2024, there was a meeting between members of the House of Representatives and NAFDAC, including other stakeholders in the health industry whether to lift the ban or not.

Adeyeye said the meeting would still hold again in the month of July 2024, therefore, it is unfair for someone to conclude that the lift has been lifted.

On February 1, 2024, NAFDAC started the enforcement of a ban on alcohol sold in sachet or in less than 200ml pet bottle, after a five -year moratorium that the then Honourable Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Folorunsho Adewole gave the manufacturers to phase out the two package types.

“This moratorium document was signed in December 2018 by the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN) and the Association of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) with Ministry of Health, NAFDAC and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC),” she said.

“Soon after the enforcement of the ban, which came five years after all parties had signed the agreement on the moratorium, the House Committee on Food and Drug Administration advised that the Agency should suspend the ban.

“It was made known at the time, however, that the Agency would have to await a decision by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on the matter since the Agency was essentially enforcing a ministerial document.”

She said at the meeting that the agency was again advised to suspend the ban and she responded by saying that it is a ministerial directive, and that she had not received any directive by the coordinating minister to suspend the ban.

She noted that, following the meeting, she had reported the above outcome from the meeting to both the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Mohammed Ali Pate, and the Coordinating Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Tunji Alausa.

Adeyeye further stated that the ban on codeine-containing syrup has not been lifted adding that on May 1st, 2018, the then Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Folorunsho Adewole, placed a ban on codeine syrup because of a documentary by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on poor distribution and abuse.

She disclosed that codeine-containing syrup has remained banned since that time.

She said,”In fact, the Federal Government compensated the manufacturers of the syrup that did not abuse the distribution. NAFDAC has never discussed the removal of the ban.”