The Nigeria Employers' Consultative Association and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria have cautioned that prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages in small PET bottles and sachets could endanger investments of more than N400 billion along the value chain for alcoholic beverages.

Adewale Oyerinde, the director general of NECA, and Segun Ajayi-Kadir, the director general of MAN, issued a joint statement on Monday warning that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control's renewed push to outlaw the manufacture and distribution of sachet alcohol could have detrimental effects on the country's economy.

They pointed out that the value chain for wines and spirits supports significant investments in manufacturing, packaging, transport, and agriculture as well as hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs. Leaders in the business sector cautioned that abrupt regulatory actions, like the NAFDAC ban, could increase unemployment and fuel the expansion of unregulated and informal markets.

"Research from the Food and Beverage Division of NECA and MAN shows that the sector directly and indirectly supports more than five hundred thousand jobs," said Oyerinde and Ajayi-Kadir.

Workers in manufacturing plants, quality control technicians, distribution staff, logistics drivers, warehouse and botanical staff, suppliers of glass and packaging materials, retail operators, hotel staff, and farmers who produce grains and polymers are all included in this category. It is expected that over N400 billion will be spent on production lines, packaging technology, and logistics specifically designed for sachet and small PET formats.

They emphasised that in 2024, the wines, spirits, and wider beverage industry's production, distribution, and associated services generated more than N2 trillion in revenue.

The leaders went on to say that the alcoholic beverage sector "supports local market vibrancy, drives activity in manufacturing clusters, and makes a significant contribution to national excise and tax revenues."

NECA and MAN further warned that enforcement measures such as factory shutdowns, product seizures, and sudden compliance demands erode investor confidence and put formal jobs at risk.

They added, “Needless disruptive enforcement actions like factory shutdowns, output losses, product seizures, and abrupt compliance demands undermine investor confidence and risk hollowing out formal employment, pushing economic activity into informal and unregulated sectors where tax contributions and worker protections are absent.”

Oyerinde and Ajayi-Kadir emphasized that their organisations are not against regulation and acknowledge the need to protect public health and prevent underage drinking. “To be clear, both organisations are committed to and recognise the importance of protecting public health and preventing underage drinking in any form,” they said. They added, however, that any regulatory measures must be evidence-based, proportionate, and coherent.

They further explained that banning sachet alcohol from duly registered companies would not effectively curb alcohol abuse or underage drinking. “The ban on alcoholic beverages in sachet, produced by duly registered and regulated companies in Nigeria, will not address the problem of alcohol abuse and consumption by minors.

"It will only lead to job losses, loss of investment, loss of government revenues, disruption of value chains, and decimation of livelihoods, while also opening the floodgates for unregulated, smuggled, and unwholesome variants."

The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation had suspended the ban on December 15, 2025, to allow for additional stakeholder consultation, and the House of Representatives had previously urged caution following a public hearing, but MAN and NECA criticised what they called regulatory inconsistency.

They cautioned that proceeding with enforcement in spite of these recommendations runs the danger of eroding trust in Nigeria's legal system.

"Operators, investors, and workers are uncertain about the rule of law as a result of this regulatory inconsistency," they stated. It erodes trust between the government, regulators, and the private sector, inhibits investment, and damages Nigeria's regulatory environment.

Both organisations demanded that enforcement be immediately suspended in accordance with orders from the federal government. Instead of focusing on packaging formats, they advised regulators to give access control, public education, and retail-level enforcement first priority.

They also called for stricter enforcement of age verification at points of sale and the publication of scientific risk assessments tailored to sachet alcohol.

Oyerinde and Ajayi-Kadir emphasised that sachets and tiny PET items containing alcohol by volume levels in accordance with international norms had been tested, registered, and approved by NAFDAC.