00:00Officially, these sachet alcoholic drinks are banned in Nigeria, but they are still
00:05being openly sold. And here in Lagos, you can find them everywhere.
00:13Abdul Karim has been buying these small alcohol packs for years. He drinks up to seven sachets
00:20every day.
00:23With everything that's happening in Nigeria, I drink to avoid worrying. If you have any
00:28issues with the wife and your drink, it helps you forget and sleep well. It helps me think
00:32clearly and not bother about the situation in the country.
00:39Alcohol in small sachets and bottles is popular here. This packaging makes highly concentrated
00:46spirits affordable for the average drinker. One euro can buy seven sachets. The alcohol
00:52concentration in these sachets can be up to 40%. Strong stuff.
00:58People buy them to get through the day, even during work. I've even seen bus drivers taking
01:03a sip in the morning. A range of products offer health and lifestyle benefits, offering some
01:09customers excuses that they have genuine reasons for taking them.
01:13Branding usually features words like betas or herbal. And consumers often wrongly believe
01:19these are plant-based health remedies. It is a claim that has many people convinced.
01:25I drink to ease my stomach cramps. I also use it to relieve my back pain. So not everyone
01:32drinks it for its alcohol content alone. Sometimes I also drink one sachet daily and it's usually
01:38when I have back pain. Between morning and evening, I usually drink two sachets. I won't lie. Once
01:50I've drunk two, I feel okay. The brand I drink makes my body feel good and very active. It also
01:58helps
01:58improve my bowel movement. But if you drink beyond your limit, you'll misbehave in public.
02:04But these days, it's not just adults. More and more young Nigerians, including children, are drinking.
02:11So the country's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC,
02:16is trying to do something about it.
02:18Over 183 countries signed, including Nigeria, that we will not make alcohol accessible to children.
02:29When a child consumes alcohol or starts consuming alcohol early, their systems are exposed to alcohol early.
02:40And there's always damage.
02:42Recent official figures from Nigeria show that more than 50% of minors obtain alcoholic beverages
02:48by themselves. And that's a problem. The government says these sachet alcoholic drinks are partly to blame.
02:56They are sold everywhere and they are small enough to easily hide from parents.
03:01We definitely have a significant alcohol consumption problem and we've had it for quite a while.
03:11Increasingly, of course, we're concerned about younger and younger people. And that makes it
03:17a public health issue of significant concern. From a public health standpoint, from a mental health
03:25standpoint, from a productivity standpoint, we're looking at a huge challenge.
03:31Nigeria's law does not expressly prohibit the sale of alcohol to children.
03:36But sachet consumers accept that there is a problem.
03:40It's not good for parents to send their children to buy alcohol. I don't ask my child to do it.
03:46His mother wouldn't allow it. If you did, your child would be getting the opportunity to start tasting alcohol.
03:54If children come to buy from us, we always demand that they should go and bring the people that sent
03:59them.
03:59And if they don't come, we won't sell. We only sell alcohol to adults.
04:04The ban which kicked in at the end of 2025 was supposed to prevent children from having
04:10access to alcohol. But now, there are conflicting messaging from different government bodies
04:15about whether or not the ban is still being enforced. Because of the size of the market,
04:20the government gave producers and suppliers more than five years to adapt to the new policy.
04:26But even now, there is still widespread resistance. Workers from the alcohol industry demonstrated
04:32outside NAFDAQ's office. They say the sachet ban threatens millions of jobs. That's a claim echoed
04:39in the desperation of small traders. If they ban sachet alcohol, do they want us to start stealing or
04:45do sex work? Many of us are unemployed and that was why we started this business. If there are jobs,
04:50we will work. So how do we feed if there's no work? How am I going to eat if they
04:58ban it because I'm a widow?
05:00This is what I depend on for survival and I use the little money I make from it to support
05:06my children's
05:07education. And with no one enforcing the ban, sellers have taken advantage and hiked their prices by more
05:17than 100 percent. But that hasn't stopped their customers drinking. Sashay sales are booming.
05:23And until the government has a clear policy in place, in the streets, it's business as usual.
