Onozure Dania
The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has told the Federal High Court in Lagos that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control is fully empowered by law to enforce the ban on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages in sachets, PET bottles, and glass bottles below 200ml.
In a counter-affidavit filed on February 23, 2026, in response to a suit instituted by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, the ministry maintained that NAFDAC’s regulatory and enforcement powers are clearly provided for under its establishing law.
The ministry, through its lawyer, Jumoke Falaye, stated that it “does not and has never interfered in the operations of NAFDAC,” stressing that it is “not an enforcement agency of the Federal Government.”
“The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control is a statutory body established under the NAFDAC Act with clear regulatory and enforcement powers over food, drugs, and related products, including alcoholic beverages,” the ministry said in the affidavit.
It added that it lacks the legal authority to direct or restrain the agency in the discharge of its statutory duties.
“The Honourable Minister of Health and Social Welfare has not granted any further extension of the moratorium on the enforcement of duly issued regulations, including the prohibition on sachet alcohol,” the ministry stated.
Citing Sections 5 and 30 of the NAFDAC Act, the ministry argued that enforcement decisions “fall squarely within the mandate of NAFDAC,” and described allegations of ministerial interference as “speculative and unsupported by evidence.”
The suit, marked FHC/L/CS/2568/25, was filed by SERAP against the Minister of Health and Social Welfare as the first defendant and the Attorney-General of the Federation as the second defendant, representing the Federal Government, including the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Among the reliefs sought, SERAP is asking the court to declare that the sachet alcohol ban is a valid regulation under the NAFDAC Act and that the Minister of Health “has no legal authority to grant or extend any moratorium on its enforcement.”
The organisation is also seeking “an order of injunction restraining the defendants, their servants, agents, privies, and all persons or authorities acting through them from extending any moratorium on the sachet alcohol ban.”
In addition, SERAP is praying the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from “directing, preventing, blocking, or stopping NAFDAC from enforcing the prohibition, in line with its statutory functions under Sections 5 and 30(c) of the NAFDAC Act, the Spirits Drink Regulation, and the Memorandum of Resolution executed on 19 December 2018.”
In its originating summons dated December 15, 2025, SERAP argued that any continued delay in enforcing the ban violates the National Health Act, 2014, the NAFDAC Act, the Spirits Drink Regulation, 2021, and the 2018 Memorandum of Resolution, which it said collectively mandate a nationwide ban on sachet alcohol.
The group contended that sachet alcohol products, often described as cheap, highly potent and easily accessible, have contributed to rising cases of alcohol abuse, particularly among young people and low-income communities.
However, the Federal Ministry of Health reiterated in its response that it “neither obstructed nor influenced NAFDAC’s regulatory processes” and affirmed that the agency “retains full authority to enforce its regulations in accordance with the law.”
The court is yet to fix a date for hearing the matter.
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