The Niger State Liquor Licensing Board has given liquor vendors up to 28th February to obtain their licences or risk arrest.
Mr Yahaya Halidu, its chairman, gave the deadline on Monday in Minna, after visiting demolished structures hitherto used for the sale of liquor.
“Those selling alcohol without licences or with expired licences will be made to face the law because we believe that such places serve as meeting points for hoodlums.
“The board will no longer tolerate the arbitrary sales of alcohol at just every corner since there is a law in place to regulate the sales of the product,” he said.
He said that liquor selling points must also be located eight kilometres away from residential areas.
The board chairman said that hideouts, used by liquor vendors, had been discovered.
He hinted that a joint enforcement team of security agencies was being mobilised to arrest and prosecute unlicensed operators after the deadline.
It would be recalled that the Nigerian Government had declared the consumption of local gin popularly known as Ogogoro illegal.
Government was forced to ban the local gin after reports surfaced of the deaths of quite a number of people after consuming the alcoholic drink in some states of the country.
NAN
