News
Clampdown on distillers: Six million job-loss looming! *NAFDAC sabotaging Tinubu – workers
Close to six million Nigerians are set to lose their jobs due to the decision of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to commence the enforcement of the ban on alcohols sold in sachet in the country.
The alarm was raised by members of the Food, Beverages and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB) and the National Union of Food, Beverages and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), who warned that the enforcement would displace no fewer than 5.5 million Nigerians from their jobs.
At the Lagos office of the agency, where they converged to register their grievances, the two unions, affiliates of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), warned about the consequences of throwing such a huge number of Nigerians in the job market.
Arguing that such a move was not only counter-productive, but antithetical to the objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu not only to curb the massive unemployment in the country but to boost the Nigerian economy, as well as reduce hunger, the members called for a rethink, especially as the government had already intervened on the matter.
The protest came on the heels of announcement of the agency that it had commenced enforcing the ban on the production and sale of alcohol in sachets and PET bottles below 200ml, a plan it unveiled on November 11, 2025, with commencement date initially fixed for December 2025, in line with a directive from the Senate.
Reports say, the Federal Government, had actually halted the mover through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), which called for an immediate suspension of all actions and measures related to the proposed ban, pending consultations and a final directive.
Apparently ignoring the SGF, Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC Director-General, had told reporters on Wednesday, that it received a matching order from the Red Chamber of NASS to proceed and that enforcement had already commenced.
But railing against the move Solomon Adebosin, Executive Secretary of FOBTOB, while alerting that the enforcement would displace no fewer than 5.5 million direct and indirect jobs, stressed that the policy undermined Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, seeking to attract investment into the country.
Debunking the agency’s claims that sachet alcohol and PET drinks were accessible to minors and children, he said there was no credible information to back it up and it lacked empirical facts.
His words: “We are here today to protest the sudden seizure of our companies in the distillery sector by NAFDAC concerning the issue of sachet drinks and PET bottles that are less than 200ml.
“We have 500,000 Nigerians working directly in this sector and over five million working indirectly, and they are going to be affected. Access and control are what we should be talking about. Let us be able to put control on these things such that children and minors do not have access to them. We have continued to invest in advocacy and sensitisation to prevent unqualified persons from consuming their products.”
Echoing the position, Azeez Razaq Head of Department, Brewery and Tobacco, of the NUFBTE, stressed that the actions of NAFDAC, depicted deliberate sabotage of the growth of indigenous manufacturers and a violation of the Federal Government’s directive.
Emphasising that the ban would lead to shutting down the companies, concomitant job losses, and ultimately worsen insecurity in Nigeria, he said it would not augur well for Nigeria for anyone to think of creating more troubles for Tinubu.
Anthony Oyagha, a member of FOBTOB, while presenting details of the union’s demands, insisted that NAFDAC must toe the line of Tinubu’s policies of creating jobs for Nigerians and boosting the economy in addition to boosting local production.
His words: “We call on the Presidency to urgently intervene to ensure that NAFDAC aligns its actions with government policy, legislative oversight, and the broader national interest.
“Local manufacturers deserve honour, protection, and partnership, not punitive measures that destroy investments, livelihoods, and confidence in Nigeria’s business environment.
“We respectfully urge Mr President to act decisively to safeguard indigenous industries, protect jobs, and ensure that regulatory agencies serve the Nigerian people and not external interests.”
Justice Muhammad Nuraddeen Bello of High Court sitting in Sokoto State has sentenced three men, including a foreign national, to death by hanging, after convicting them on charges bordering on terrorism and arms proliferation.
The convicts, Yusuf Muhammad (alias Sallau), a Nigerien; Jabbi Alhaji Yalle; and Kabiru Muhammad, were apprehended on 13th June, 2025, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Counter Terrorism Unit in connection with cross-border criminal activities bordering on arms trafficking and terrorism.
Bello, who found all three defendants guilty as charged and sentenced them to death by hanging, while also ordering the forfeiture of all monetary exhibits recovered from the convicts to the Federal Government, said: “The conviction is the latest in a series of successful prosecutions by the DSS in its sustained operations against terrorism and organised cross-border criminal networks across Nigeria.”
The sentencing is coming about two weeks after the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sentenced each of the five suspects arrested on May 31, 2026, by the DSS for their involvement in the November 21, 2025, attack on St Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, to 25 years’ imprisonment.
Justice Binta Nyako, had handed down the judgment after the men, including two Nigeriens, pleaded guilty to all four terrorism-related charges, bordering on support for the commission of an act of terrorism, breaching both Section 16 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act, were pressed against them.
According to Count One, the men were accused of jointly conspiring to assist a terrorist by agreeing and intentionally playing various roles towards conveying 15 AK 103 rifles as well as about 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa region, Republic of Niger, to one Malam Ahmad, a member of the Boko Haram terrorist group based in Borgu, Niger State, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 26(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Primate Elijah Ayodele, is on the verge of coughing out a whopping N10billion, if he fails to offer unrestrained apology to Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former Governor of Kano State within the next 24 hours, and retract his claim that the former Minister of Defence is bidding his time to betray Peter Obi, to whom he is to contest the 2027 presidential election as a running mate.
Without doing so, the controversial cleric, should be ready for a major court battle with the vice-presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), the platform on which the pair is to contest the election.
In a letter indicating a legal action against Ayodele of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church over defamatory remarks, Kwankwaso, through Magaji Mato Ibrahim, SAN & Co., his lawyers demanded an immediate retraction and apology from the cleric over the allegations.
Details of the letter, dated June 11, and unveiled through the X platform of the legal team, was based on a viral video recorded during a live-streamed church service, where the preacher made allegations targeting Kwankwaso’s integrity as Peter Obi’s running mate under the NDC.
Quoting the cleric as stating: “KWANKWASO IS A FAKE TO OBI, KWANKWASO WILL BETRAY YOU. KWANKWASO HAS BEEN PAID TO BE VICE PRESIDENT TO OBI AMONG OTHER LIBELOUS COMMENTS WHILE PRETENDING TO BE A PREACHER,” the former governor said the comments were unprovoked, grossly unfounded, and carefully designed to create a rift within the ranks of the political party and its supporters.
Handing Ayodele a 24-hour ultimatum to publish a full and unequivocal retraction across all social media platforms and news outlets with the same prominence as the original video, they also demanded a written undertaking that he would cease and desist from making any further malicious statements against their client, warning that failure to comply, would lead to full legal actions.
The letter stated: “We shall claim substantial damages to the tune of Ten Billion Naira and cost of the action on a full indemnity basis amongst other reliefs.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday demanded the immediate end to the exportation of minerals from countries in Africa in their raw forms, which he said had led to massive exploitation of the continent.
The President, told member countries of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), a forum of Ministers in charge of Mining and Solid Minerals on the continent to speak with one voice to promote, collective interests, ensure value addition, and prevent the continent from becoming merely a source of raw materials for the rest of the world.
As the Grand Patron of the group, chaired by Dele Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, gave the charge while receiving a delegation of AMSG in the State House, Tinubu told the delegation that the group had a critical role to play in strengthening Africa’s bargaining power in the global mineral market and ensuring that the continent derives maximum value from its natural resources.
His words: “ What we should do is avoid bureaucracy and deceit; we must put an end to exploitation. The rest of the world won’t mind if your country is a cesspit of dams and rubbish and excavates your raw materials without giving value.
“It is our responsibility to collaborate and cooperate to ensure that these metals and minerals bring value to us, bring technology to us, and we can do it. It is how much each country will put into the research, development and refinery. I don’t see reasons we cannot demand centralisation of that conversation somewhere on the continent. So why not utilise that in our research and development and knowledge-based economy to enhance the quality of life and bring prosperity to our people.”
Emphasising that Africa possessed enormous mineral wealth that should be strategically harnessed to drive industrialisation, create jobs and accelerate economic transformation across the continent, the President, said the era of exporting raw minerals without local processing and beneficiation must give way to a new model that encourages investment in local industries, technology transfer and the development of value chains that retain wealth within Africa.
Alake, who had earlier expressed gratitude to the President for his exemplary leadership under the Renewed Hope Agenda, said the gesture had shown support for Nigeria’s mineral sector, especially in the local value-addition and economic diversification drive, where artisanal miners are empowered.
He told the President: “You encouraged us to look at the focal point of the establishment of this group, which is to ensure that the African natural resources, especially with regards to minerals, critical matters, are localised, the beneficiation coming directly to Africans generally.
“You charged us that we should set our sails very high and ensure that local value addition is a pivot around which all the objectives of this organisation should revolve.
“So, sir, we have gone implemented your charge and we are quitted that today local value addition is reverberating all over Africa.”
He added that some member countries have gone ahead to ban the export of raw minerals.
He explained members of the body were in Abuja for the Fifth edition of the African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (AFNIS 2026), to push for a new continental approach to resource management and industrial development.
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