The Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have demanded that the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Moji Adeyeye, be fired for allegedly conspiring with multinational corporations to destroy local businesses engaged in the production of alcohol in Nigeria.
The call was made at a demonstration in Ogun State by the leaders of the NLC and TUC over NAFDAC’s decision to ban the production of alcoholic beverages in sachet packaging.
NAFDAC had earlier outlawed the manufacturing, distribution, and retailing of alcoholic beverages in 200 ml or less glass bottles, sachets, and pet containers.
Unions and members of the Food Beverages and Tobacco Senior Staff Association, FOBTOB, and the National Union of Food Beverages and Tobacco Employees, NUFBE, protested at the Ogun State House of Assembly, expressing their discontent with the situation.
Along with chanting solidarity songs, the demonstrators carried banners and placards bearing a variety of messages, including “Don’t create another problem, don’t make us jobless in this biting economy,” “Our industries must not die of wicked policies MAN save our industries,” and “NAFDAC don’t take away our work.”
Speaking to Speaker of the Assembly Hon. Oludaisi Elemide, TUC Chairman Hakeem Lasisi bemoaned the fact that the prohibition will result in the loss of over N800 billion in industrial investment as well as the forced unemployment of over 500,000 workers.
He said, “We believe this policy is anti-people, it is not welcomed by Nigerians. Drinking of alcohol is a choice, you either take it or leave it and a large quantity of sales in this industry comes from the sales of sachet alcohol.
“This ban will affect Nigerians seriously, especially the Nigerian workers. We have over 500,000 direct employees in these companies, we have over 2 million indirect employees in these companies, the direct employees will fall back into the labour market, the indirect employees will become unemployed.
“Even the Ogun State government will be affected by the ban because these companies pay billions of naira into the government account as taxes, the internally generated revenue of Ogun State will drop.
“With this ban, over N800 billion investment in these companies will go down the drain. The packaging material industries who are supplying materials to these alcoholic producing companies will also fold up.
“What we are saying is that this policy is anti-people, the Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye should be suspended because we believe that she has colluded with multinational companies to destroy the indigenous and local industries. We will not accept this.
“Adeyeye must go. She has colluded with multinational companies to destroy the local economy. The arguments of NAFDAC to ban the production of sachet alcoholic drinks are baseless.”
To save the manufacturing industry, NLC Chairman Hammed Benco also urged Congress to pressure NAFDAC to abolish the prohibition.
In response, the Speaker begged the Federal Government to reevaluate the prohibition and pledged that the Assembly will step in.
“We are in a very critical moment in this country, though the ban is a federal government decision, but we will let them know what and what pleases us,” the Speaker said.
