The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has approached the Federal High Court in Lagos, seeking injunctive orders to restrain the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Attorney-General of the Federation from further extending the moratorium on the ban of alcohol packaged in sachets.
SERAP is also asking the court to bar the Federal Government, including the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), from interfering with the statutory powers of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to enforce the prohibition on the production, distribution, and sale of sachet alcohol.
The organisation is seeking an order of injunction restraining the defendants, their agents, or any persons acting on their behalf from extending any moratorium on the sachet alcohol ban.
The group is further requesting a perpetual injunction to restrain the defendants from directing, preventing, blocking, or stopping NAFDAC from enforcing the prohibition, in line with its statutory duties under Sections 5 and 30(c) of the NAFDAC Act, the Spirits Drink Regulation, and the Memorandum of Resolution executed on 19 December 2018.
In the suit marked FHC/L/CS/2568/25, SERAP is also asking the court to compel the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, in its supervisory capacity, to immediately ensure that NAFDAC fully enforces the existing nationwide ban on the production, distribution, and sale of alcohol in sachet format.
The defendants in the suit are the Minister of Health and Social Welfare and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The organisation also wants the court to decide whether, given the acknowledged dangers of alcohol abuse, judicial intervention is required in the interest of public health, public safety, and public order.
According to SERAP, sachet alcohol, often cheap, highly potent, and widely accessible, has been linked to rising cases of alcohol abuse, particularly among young people and low-income communities. It argues that the 2018 Memorandum of Resolution and subsequent regulations were adopted precisely to address these risks.
