Alcohol sachets have been part of everyday Nigerian life for years, and so there is debate about whether they should exist at all. Traders complain that their livelihoods are at risk, and regulators insist on public safety. Everyone is talking past each other. Now, NAFDAC is trying to settle the matter with numbers.

NAFDAC says its decision to phase out alcohol sachets and bottles smaller than 200 millilitres is not about moral panic or optics, but rather about access. According to a national survey released by the agency, more than half of Nigerian minors are buying alcohol for themselves, often in packaging designed to be easy to hide.

The survey, conducted in collaboration with the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria, found that 54 percent of minors purchase alcohol directly. Nearly half of them buy sachets or small plastic bottles, formats that fit easily into school bags and pockets. 

Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, the agency’s director-general, argues that availability shapes behaviour. If alcohol is harder to conceal and harder to buy casually, underage consumption drops. In her words, limiting pack sizes limits access. From NAFDAC’s perspective, sachets are not just cheap alcohol. They are alcohol designed for discretion.

The survey also found that nearly one in ten children under the age of 13 consumes alcohol daily. That detail has shifted the conversation from theory to urgency. This is no longer about future risk, it is about current exposure.

The study itself covered six states across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones: Gombe, Kaduna, the Federal Capital Territory, Anambra, Lagos and Rivers. A total of 1,788 respondents participated, providing data that meets a 95 percent confidence level. Researchers assessed how minors access alcohol, where they buy it, and how often they drink. The results showed that sachets and small bottles remain the most common entry points.

NAFDAC says the findings confirm what health professionals and educators have been warning about for years. Alcohol abuse among young people is rising, driven not by curiosity alone, but by availability. Sachets are cheap, widespread and rarely questioned at the point of sale. In many cases, children do not need intermediaries. They buy directly from retailers.

Manufacturers, distributors and petty traders have pushed back, warning that phasing out small packs threatens livelihoods and disrupts existing supply chains. Small-scale vendors rely on sachets for quick sales, and removing them dents their daily revenue.

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The debate revolves around this very tension. On one side is public health data pointing to early alcohol exposure and long-term consequences. On the other is an informal economy where regulation often arrives late and lands hard. NAFDAC insists the cost of inaction is higher.

What makes this moment different is the attempt to ground policy in evidence rather than assumption. The agency has been challenged repeatedly to show its data. This survey is its response. Whether it convinces critics remains to be seen, but it reframes the conversation. The focus is no longer on adult choice or market freedom. It is on children, access and what society is willing to normalize.

NAFDAC is betting that smaller packs create bigger problems for now. The agency believes that removing them is one of the few practical ways to slow underage drinking in a country where supervision is uneven and enforcement resources are stretched. It is a gamble rooted in data, not sentiment.

So, whether Nigerians agree or not, this is no longer just an argument about alcohol; it is a question of access, responsibility and what kind of protection minors can realistically expect in everyday spaces

Meiza Nigeria