The Governor of Niger State, Muhammed Bago, has placed a ban on alcohol in Suleja and eight other local governments sharing blurred boundaries with suburbs of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The ban will take effect on January 1, as announced in a statement on Monday by Ibrahim Mohammed, the secretary of the state’s Liquor and Licencing Board.
“The law establishing the board has the mandate to control the activities of all liquor vendors in the state.
Nine local government areas were on the first schedule of the prohibited areas with Suleja among them, and as such, the board will ensure strict compliance with the law,” he said. “We are calling on all vendors to abide by the relevant extant laws establishing the board.”
According to the statement; beer joints that have previously done business within Minna, the state capital, would be served with “relocation letters to move outside the city to within an eight-kilometre radius of the post office in the state.”
Revenue in the Nigerian beer market is estimated to be around $5.2 billion and is expected to grow annually by 12.86 per cent, according to data by Statista.
The ban comes after the governor began eyeing other sources of revenue to combat poverty and displacement that currently ravages the state.
Most notably, Mr Bago asked the federal government to begin paying a 13 per cent derivation to Niger in recognition of the national importance of several power infrastructures and dams that the state hosts.
“We will take the federal government to the Supreme Court unless the 13 per cent derivation from our land, water, air, grass, and everything given to us is paid, “ said Mr Bago.
He added, “We need 13 per cent derivation for water supplied to the Delta. Our people are ravaged and displaced year in, year out because of the flow of water from the Niger to the Delta.”
|Peoples Gazette
