A lecturer in the Department of Marketing, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, Dr. Joseph Obele, has criticised the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for its recent ban on sachet alcohol drinks.
Obele, in a statement made available to LEADERSHIP Weekend in Port Harcourt yesterday, said the ban contradicts the principles of segmentation.
He explained that the principle of segmentation involves splitting customers or potential customers into groups or segments within which customers are likely to share similar level of interest in a product or service.
The lecturer who lauded the National Assembly for launching an investigation into the ban, said if not suspended, NAFDAC’s action could trigger rise in unemployment in the country.
Obele said: “The objective of segmentation of a market is to reach a target consumer base done by defining consumers in terms of geographic, demographic, psychographic, purchasing power and behavior.
“Purchasing power base segmentation is the factor in this situation. If some persons have the money to buy same content in the big bottle, some other persons will buy it in the semi bottle, while others will have a taste of the same commodity by buying it in a sachet format, by that the principle of segmentation has been adopted effectively to satisfy all categories of consumers.
“The investigation in view of suspending the ban by Nigerian lawmakers is commendable.
“The implication of the ban of sachet alcohol drinks if not suspended will further worsen the Nigeria unemployment index which is forecast to be 0.10% in 2024. The unemployed people in Nigeria is forecast to 168.80k in 2024.
“SMEs in Nigeria are suffocating under harsh economic environments, lack of access to capital and poor business practices which have stunted the growth and transition of micro-businesses.
“The production of sachet alcohol drinks is powered by SMEs and SMEs in any functional economy are the highest employers of labour. Hence, the ban will automatically quit millions of SME’s which will translate to millions of unemployment.
“The situation will force 1.9 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to exit the Nigerian business landscape and it will translate to over ten million job loss.”