Distillers under the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association staged their fifth protest of 2026 at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) headquarters on Tuesday, decrying the continued sealing of their companies over the ban on sachet alcohol beverages and PET bottles below 200ml.
Employees, both junior and senior, barricaded the NAFDAC office along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, carrying placards with slogans such as “Tinubu does not want jobs to be lost”, “Stop destroying local manufacturers”, and “NAFDAC should release products put on hold”.
Chanting solidarity songs, the protesters blocked vehicles from entering the agency’s premises, drawing attention to what they described as an ongoing threat to local manufacturing and employment.
The protest is linked to the continued enforcement of the ban on small-volume alcohol packaging.
While distillers claimed that the Federal Government had instructed NAFDAC to halt the enforcement, NAFDAC Director-General Mojisola Adeyeye said there was no official communication to that effect.
Earlier demonstrations by the distillers had included threats to take to the streets if the ban was not lifted, highlighting the escalating tensions between regulatory authorities and local producers.
At the time of filing this report, neither the protesters nor NAFDAC officials had formally addressed the media.
Details of the protest and agency response are still emerging.
