The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has commenced a statewide mop-up of sachet alcoholic drinks and alcoholic beverages below 200ml in Edo State.
The enforcement operation was carried out on Friday at Mission Road and New Benin Market in Benin, where officials seized the affected products from traders.
Speaking during the operation, the squad leader, Ugwu Agu, Deputy Director, Investigation and Enforcement, South-South/South-East Zone, Asaba, said the exercise followed credible intelligence on the continued sale of the products.
Agu, who represented the Director, Investigation and Enforcement and chairman of the Federal Task Force on Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods, Dr Martins Iluyomade, said the agency was determined to remove the products from circulation.
“We had credible intelligence that these alcohol products are in this place. So we came here, we saw it, and we are mopping it up,” he said.
He said the enforcement was also intended to warn traders that continued sale of the products was no longer permissible under existing regulations.
According to him, the small sizes of the alcoholic products made them easily accessible to young people and children, who could purchase and conceal them.
Agu said restricting access to alcohol, particularly among persons below 18 years, was consistent with resolutions signed by NAFDAC and the World Health Assembly.
“We are trying to mop it up. Wherever we see it in any market, we will mop it up and take it away from circulation. That is what the law says,” he said.
Similar banned products were also seized at New Benin Market during the operation.
Agu said the deadline for compliance had elapsed, making the continued availability of the products a violation of the directive.
“The last day was supposed to be 20th. For it to be here is a violation. They have been given different times to readjust,” he said.
He said the products were no longer being displayed in markets in Lagos and other parts of the country, but intelligence indicated that Edo had remained non-compliant.
Agu recalled that the Edo NAFDAC office had conducted another mop-up operation on September 18 at two distributors’ warehouses in the state.
He said the warehouses were sealed pending evacuation of the products for destruction in accordance with regulatory requirements.
