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If anyone ever said Baileys—a revered global cream liqueur—will be sold in sachets, many of us would argue. Well, welcome to Nigeria where the unexpected happens. From powdered milk to antiseptic soaps to flavoured milk to dish washing liquid, almost every product in the Nigerian market has become sachetised.
BlackBox Nigeria confirms that sachet Dettol, sachet Baileys, sachet Hollandia and sachet Morning fresh are now being sold.
On Monday, pictures of these sachet products went viral on Twitter and met with a number of reactions from Nigerians.
To some, a sachet economy is nothing but a poor economy, following a decline in the spending power of Nigerians. Recall that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its recently released “2019 Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria” report states that almost 83 million Nigerians, about 40 percent of the total population, live below the country’s poverty line of 137,430 naira ($381.75) per year.
Others decried the environmental impact of these products.
@iamvonvick said “Because of the spending power of the people. They can’t afford to buy the normal sized ones. Also I think this contributes to more plastic waste and nuisance to the immediate environment.”
In the views of @CHLemchi, “These aren’t innovative products. This shows that there are now more poor people in this economy than you ever thought. “Na back country take dey walk soldier don put everybody for reverse.” – Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Overtake Dont Overtake, 1989.”
@labogua stated that “The environmental impact of these non bio degradable satchets is a bomb for future generations.”
