Recently the upper chamber of the National Assembly issued a firm directive to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) not to extend the December 31, 2025 deadline for the prohibition of the production and sale of alcoholic beverages in sachets and small-volume PET bottles.
The resolution followed a motion of urgent national importance moved by Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong (Cross River South) during plenary on Thursday 6th November, 2025.
We agree with the opinion of Senator Ekpenyong who argued while presenting the motion, that the continued sales of high-content alcoholic beverages in sachet form was fuelling addiction, impaired cognitive development, school dropouts, domestic violence and a rise in road accidents, especially among commercial drivers and teenagers. We commend the senate for this decision considering the negative effects that the sales of alcoholic beverages in sachet have on our society.
Here in Akwa Ibom State, the sales of these high content alcoholic beverages is rampant around public schools, motor parks and residential areas making the younger generation highly susceptible to drug abuse and high alcoholic consumption.
We urge Akwa Ibom State government to be proactive by setting up a task force to work with security agents in Akwa Ibom State and enforce the ban on these products from December 31, 2025. The state government must act responsibly by ensuring that the peddlers of these products who sell it alongside Indian hemp, nicotine and other harmful drugs are banned from operating within the State.
We cannot continue to expose our youths to cheap, easily accessible alcohol that destroys lives and endangers public safety.
