‘Our little joy is gone’

• Abuja residents reject sachet alcohol ban

From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja

Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, have kicked against the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control’s resolve to ban the sale of alcoholic drinks in sachet and small-bottles. They described the move as another harsh blow on already struggling Nigerians.

NAFDAC’s Director-General, Professor Christianah Adeyeye, recently insisted there would be “no going back unless a legislative or legal directive allows otherwise.” However, findings by Daily Sun reveal widespread anger among residents who argued that the ban would worsen hardship for low-income earners, destroy small businesses, and fail to address underage drinking.

They insisted sachet alcohol remains the last affordable form of relaxation for the poor and warned that taking it away would deepen frustration in a country already weighed down by economic hardship.

A resident of Kubwaa, Ayo Ade, blasted the Federal Government’s proposed ban, describing it as “a heartless assault on the poor and a final blow to people already suffocating under economic hardship. The move appears as a punishment for being poor.

“Sachet alcohol is the last affordable luxury left for low-income earners battling hunger, unemployment, and relentless price hikes. Banning it will strip ordinary Nigerians of their only means of relief in an unforgiving reality.

“How do they want people like us to survive? Just last week, I managed to organise a small in-house party. With N5,000, I bought different sachets alcoholic drinks for everyone. If it was bottled alcohol, that same money wouldn’t even buy one bottle. Not one.

“Sachet drinks are more than alcohol, they are community, choice and escape. They allow people to buy what they can afford, sample different brands, share laughter with friends and momentarily forget the crushing weight of daily survival.

“This is how we live. This is how the average Nigerian breathes after stress. Government should not touch it. They are not just banning sachet alcohol they are tearing away the little joy we still have left.”

A commercial driver plying the Wuse–Lugbe route, James Agbo: “It as a move aimed at killing the little enjoyment left for ordinary Nigerians. Is like telling the poor man he no longer has the right to cool his head after the stress of daily survival.

“This thing is what we use to cool our heads when life is too hot. With just N100, you can forget some of the worries in this country. Now they want to take even that away from us.

“Admitted, minors abuse sachet alcohol. Banning or increasing the price will solve nothing. Even if you raise the price, will minors stop buying it? Some of them are even richer than us! Anybody who wants to abuse alcohol will still abuse it.

“The move is unfair punishment for ordinary Nigerians. Government should focus on more pressing national problems rather than a misplaced priority. This one is not necessary now. There are bigger problems in this country.

“Government should engage producers instead of shutting them down. If sachet alcohol is truly harmful, improvements should be made rather than an outright ban. If they say it’s dangerous, then let them sit down with the producers and improve it. They are the experts. Don’t just stop selling it.

“Sachet alcohol remains cheap, accessible and meant for the ordinary man. Taking it away will only deepen frustration among the masses.

“Please they should allow the poor masses to breathe. Is it a crime to be poor? This our little way of grooving they want to remove it from our mouths.”

At the Jabi Park, Madam Blessing, a sachet alcohol dealer, said: “This business is what we use to eat. It is paying us well because many people are buying. You cannot always say you will not sell to someone because you don’t know who sends them.”

“Parents should take responsibility for guiding their children, rather than blaming sellers. The Bible says you should train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is grown, he will not depart from it.

“If minors are taking it, parents should go back to the drawing board and train their children well. Government, I beg, please don’t take food out of our mouths.”