{"id":961,"date":"2026-02-26T13:53:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/?p=961"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:54:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:54:51","slug":"health-ministry-backs-nafdac-authority-to-enforce-sachet-alcohol-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/health-ministry-backs-nafdac-authority-to-enforce-sachet-alcohol-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Health ministry backs NAFDAC authority to enforce sachet alcohol ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has told the Federal High Court that only the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has the legal authority to enforce the ban on alcoholic drinks packaged in sachets and containers below 200 millilitres<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The ministry made the position known in a counter-affidavit filed on 23 February 2026 in a suit challenging the enforcement of the sachet alcohol prohibition.<\/p>\n

In a statement signed by Sayo Akintola, resident media consultant, the ministry clarified that it does not control or interfere with NAFDAC\u2019s enforcement decisions.<\/p>\n

It reads partly: \u201cNAFDAC is a statutory agency established under the NAFDAC Act with clearly defined regulatory and enforcement powers over food, drugs and related products, including alcoholic beverages.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ministry maintained that it lacks the authority to stop or delay the enforcement of the ban, stressing that the Minister of Health and Social Welfare did not approve any extension of the moratorium on sachet alcohol regulation.<\/p>\n

According to the affidavit, the agency derives its enforcement powers from relevant provisions of the NAFDAC Act, while decisions on implementation fall entirely within its jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

The suit, marked FHC\/L\/CS\/2568\/25, was filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project seeking a declaration that the sachet alcohol ban is a valid regulation and that the health minister has no authority to suspend its enforcement.<\/p>\n

The group is also asking the court to restrain federal authorities from interfering with NAFDAC\u2019s regulatory duties and to ensure nationwide enforcement of the prohibition.<\/p>\n

SERAP argued that delaying enforcement of the ban undermines existing public health regulations and contributes to rising alcohol abuse, particularly among young people and low-income communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has told the Federal High Court that only the National<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[251,221,136],"class_list":["post-961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-health-ministry","tag-nafdac","tag-sachet-alcohol-ban"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NAFDAC.png",1400,1400,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NAFDAC-300x300.png",300,300,true],"medium":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NAFDAC-300x300.png",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NAFDAC-768x768.png",640,640,true],"large":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NAFDAC-1024x1024.png",640,640,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NAFDAC.png",1400,1400,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NAFDAC.png",1400,1400,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NAFDAC-825x575.png",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NAFDAC-590x410.png",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["Publisher"]},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=961"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":963,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961\/revisions\/963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}