Menu

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has fined Guinness Nigeria $5 million (about N1 billion) for allegedly revalidating and using expired raw materials without prior approval.

According to Reuters, Guinness Nigeria said it did not fully understand the basis for the fine, but is currently negotiating with NAFDAC to resolve the matter.

The Guinness Nigeria fine follows other fines imposed on several multinational companies in Nigeria by the federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari. In October, the Nigerian Communications Commission imposed a $5.2 billion fine on the Nigerian operations of MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile operator, for failing to disconnect five million unregistered SIM cards. In the same month, the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria imposed a $5 million fine on Stanbic IBTC, a subsidiary of South Africa’s Standard Bank, for allegedly misstating its financial statements.

Guinness Nigeria is the local subsidiary of Diageo, the British beer and drinks giant. The company is also the second largest brewer in Nigeria with 25 percent market share. (Nigerian Breweries, controlled by Dutch beer giant Heineken, is the largest brewer in Nigeria with 70 percent market share.)

Chibuike Oguh  is Financial Nigeria's Frontier Markets Analyst