Those Paraga protests and related issues

There have been various kinds of protests in Nigeria in recent weeks. The country has witnessed street marches by hungry and angry citizens − both male and female − in its northern and southern parts. The country is also currently under intense pressure because the people are not happy. They are hungry and are a true, living example of the English proverb: “A hungry man is an angry man.” In situations like this, the wise, eternal words of our elders become quite helpful. They become more like the proverbial oil with which words are consumed. Our elders say when the household is sour, the town tends to be like the jungle. It’s better to read that sentence like an African, more like a Nigerian because it hits home differently when we think with our native thinking caps on.

It’s not very easy to point at any facet of the Nigerian socio-economic life that is not negatively affected by our government’s policies. We are not running as we should, the rat is not crying like the rat should not is the bird crying like the bird. Not even the man who has loads of (legitimate or illegitimate) money is immune to the heavy pangs of Nigeria’s current ugly socio-economic miasma. They tell us that the hardship is a global phenomenon; that it’s not only in Nigeria and we agree without question because our brothers, sisters and friends in the Diaspora too can attest to it by the things they hear, see and feel from home.

The high and mighty, represented (for example) by the Emir of Kano and the Sultan of Sokoto, also feel the heat. They have also protested in their regal ways. The elderly masquerader dances in measured steps. The masquerade for the elderly too dances in measured strides. These royalties have also sounded notes of warning to the Nigerian government citing the articles of social behaviour among the people of their vast region. These trado-religious leaders were measured (like the elderly masquerader or the masquerade for the elderly) in their moral suasion. They made their words their emissaries to the government. They did not sound like they are enjoying the ongoing President Tinubu show and they said so. The Sultan said Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder, the Emir of Kano asked Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu to tell her husband, the president, that the people are hungry. One message, different sources.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has, as they are known to always do in times like this, asked the government to rise to the occasion and tackle the hardship being suffered by the citizenry. Beginning with the Catholic Bishops in the Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province of the Church, they gave their warning too. They also gave their usual free pieces of advice while contending that “it would be nothing short of hypocritical to put all the misery being suffered by Nigerians today down to change in the world economy.” The bishops in Ibadan Province said the Tinubu government “must upgrade the ongoing ‘governance by palliatives’ to governance that promotes productivity, accountability and which provides essential infrastructure like power supply and jobs for the populace.”

So, the various leaders including those politicians playing the ostrich, know that the protesting Nigerians are indeed hungry and angry. Even the unfeeling politician cannot deny that the streets are full of sorrow, tears and blood, a là Fela Anikulapo Kuti. These government agents are fully aware that all the protests are not all because of hatred for the government of the day or simply bitter politics. So, the protestations by the government and its political party, All Progressives Congress (APC) that the anger and agitation in the land are sponsored by the opposition is indeed the mother of all Paraga Protests.

Yes, there were Paraga protests in parts of Southern Nigeria. And, yes, the paraga protests were also as a result of the biting hardship in the land. However, the paraga protests against economic hardship were triggered by the commencement of a routine duty by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on February 1, 2024. On that day, NAFDAC began the enforcement of an agreed phase-out of production and sale of alcoholic beverages in sachets and in 100mls ‘pet’ bottles.

Paraga is the generic name for alcoholic beverages packed and sold in small, very handy sachets. There are very many of them and they all come in a variety of designs − eye-catching designs, one must admit. Some of the brands of the paraga are legendary names in the liqueur industry. However, we are currently at a juncture in our country where we now have some very jejune, maybe hilarious but outrightly unconscionable names as paraga brands. In Nigeria, we have reckless paraga abundance.

The sobriquet ‘Paraga’ is widely used in the South West. It is taken to be a Yoruba word, which etymology I haven’t tried to check.  These drinks might be another thing in other parts of the country, but Paraga is Yoruba and it means alcoholic drinks in sizable packages. Paraga as a name didn’t start with these small-packaged liqueurs, we knew it to have to do with hawkers of herbal concoctions… Paraga drinks are sold so very widely in the country, competing competently with “pure water”. Deeper in the streets and backwaters (Àbétè) they have some other names but the commonest is Pelebe (flat) because of their flat and easily concealable packaging.

That is when the government, NAFDAC and some others in the Nigerian health sector developed their deep concern and abhorrence for Paraga and Pelebe. After reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering, these relevant groups met and decided Paraga and Pelebe must die before they kill all of us. Five years ago, the Federal Ministry of Health, NAFDAC and other stakeholders, including manufacturers agreed to end the manufacture, distribution and sale of Paraga and Pelebe. They gave themselves a timeline when these items should be phased out, and they agreed on a five-year hiatus. The five-year notice expired on 31 January, 2024. NAFDAC has the mandate to enforce the ban on sachet alcoholic beverages and those in 100ml bottles, which we curiously call ‘pet’. That is what the agency commenced on February 1, 2024, which led to the protests.

The Paraga protests were not against NAFDAC as an agency. The protests were against the hardship in the land, which obviously would be exacerbated by the implementation of a policy that would throw a sizable number of manufacturers out of business and thousands of people into the labour market. The employees have dependants who would also be adversely affected while also fracturing the value chain of this ordinarily lucrative business. The Food Beverages and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB), the National Union of Food Beverages and Tobacco Employees (NUFBE) and the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria also stated this much during their paraga protests in Lagos and Ogun states.

Conversely, NAFDAC did nothing wrong by enforcing the agreement to remove sachet alcoholic beverages from our faces, but it is the one receiving all the flak. The agency is in the line of fire, receiving every bullet fired by angry protesters at the government in its economic inadequacies. However, when the harm done by Paraga and Pelebe is weighed against the economy of the products, the drinks would be seen as what they truly are: the real keg of gunpowder that the Sultan talked about. This is even more so when the fact that underage people, especially schoolchildren conveniently conceal the sachet alcoholic beverages in their books and bags and thus abuse it. The government says banning Paraga and Pelebe is a veritable way of checking alcoholism among Nigerians especially those unauthorised to handle let alone consume it.

However, there is a moral angle to the matter. When the government fails to enforce its laws, rules, and regulations on the consumption of alcohol, it shouldn’t take it out on the masses. Since Nigerian laws do not prohibit the consumption of alcohol, why ban its sale in small packs − the only size the poor can afford?

The timing of the enforcement of the ban is another offside for NAFDAC. While this is not its making, it’s unfortunate that the agency is the one frying in the messy government oil. The hardship Nigerians are facing now cannot be further heightened in any way and this permits the protests against the ban of paraga.