ABL campaigns against under-age drinking

Ghana’s premier beverage producer, Accra Brewery Limited, (ABL) has begun reaching out to students with its campaign against under-age drinking, giving them valuable information and empowering them to stay away from alcohol.

The initiative forms part of ABL’s five shared imperatives among, which is to create a sociable world where its beer products are developed, marketed, sold and consumed responsibly.

The company believes that as a good corporate citizen, it has a mandate to prevent underage drinking.

In this direction, ABL joined forces with Bekofi, an NGO committed to inculcating positive change in the young generation and organised a seminar for more than 600 Senior High School students drawn from selected schools within the Greater Accra Region, on the harmful effects of underage drinking.

Taking the students through an expose on “The Effects of Alcohol on the Human Body”, Mr Cyrus deGraft Johnson, Corporate Affairs Manager of ABL said the programme, the third in a series, bears testimony to the fact that ABL is a responsible and community-oriented company.

"We aim to support programmes focused responsible retailing, avoiding alcohol when pregnant and eliminating underage drinking."

He noted that much as making huge sales and profits are important, that would not be the basis for the company to renege on its commitment to promoting responsible alcohol consumption, adding, the effort was also in redemption of the Global CEO commitments on responsible consumption as agreed by the Beer, Wine and Spirits Producers’ on October 2012.

"It is our firm conviction that alcohol consumption is for adults and not for people below the age of 18,’’ Mr deGraft Johnson said.

He added that this is the third in a series of programmes and follows an earlier programme ABL organised in partnership with the University of Ghana branch of AIESEC, to enlighten the inmates at the Junior Correctional Centre (Borstal Institute) at Dzorwulu about the harmful effects of underage drinking.

A similar event was also organised on Republic Day for about 80 pupils of the Dzorwulu Junior High School, in collaboration with Dream Believe Achieve, an NGO committed to mentoring children to become responsible and focused individuals.

While cautioning the students on the need to heed to the advice they have acquired, Mr deGraft-Johnson also expressed the need for the participants to take their education seriously.

Some of the students shared their views on ABL’s initiative.

“This seminar has just confirmed my conviction that alcohol consumption, particularly at an early age, will only destroy my body together with my future hopes and aspirations. I am very grateful to ABL for this invaluable insight,” stated Rodney Quarshie.

“There are many things that I never knew about alcohol consumption until I had this opportunity to listen to this informative delivery from Accra Brewery Limited. It has completely changed by perception about ‘enjoying life’ and I’ll be extra careful next time I go out with my friends”, posited Linda Quaye, another student.

Expressing their delight over such an educative programme, the management team of Bekofi was full of praise for ABL, remarking, the programme truly lived up its billing by igniting hope among the youth.