Members of the Nigeria and Food, Beverages and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB), a branch of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), on Tuesday, 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.
They 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’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.
Meanwhile, addressing the protesters, Vice-President of TUC, Mr. Emmanuel Idogen, said among others, that several workers had already been rendered jobless from the factories shut down by NAFDAC, saying “We all know the economic hardship we are facing in the country presently. Price of fuel has increased, prices of food are increasing on a daily basis and there is inflation. Some of the people earn their living to feed their family and dependents from the factory that you have shut down.
“Invariably, there will be more families exposed to hunger and I believe this will have a negative impact on the society. Many companies in the country, as a result of the harsh economic indices of doing business, have been under strain. Now, you want to lay off thousands of workers into the labour market that is already overstretched. What do you expect them to do in order to feed and cater for the needs of their family?
“We are appealing to NAFDAC to suspend the directive to shutdown the production of alcoholic sachets drinks for the posterity of the masses.”
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