Aspirant for the 2019 presidential election, Omoyele Sowore, has vowed that the country will become a major exporter of marijuana, also called weed, if hes elected president next year.
While speaking at an event organised by the Centre for Social Justice on Wednesday, September 5, 2018, Sowore said Nigeria can make a lot of money from exporting the psychoactive drug which can be used for medical or recreational purposes.
He said, "We have to start taking care of our weed, igbo, such that we can also contribute to the GDP of the world. Some of the best weed in the world are grown in Ekiti state. I'm very serious and people are making billions out of that particular plant that is very potent in Nigeria. We should be focusing on it."
He put the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on notice and said it'll no longer be business as usual for the agency on marijuana if he becomes president.
"Our NDLEA should get the memo in advance that Nigeria will be exporting weed to cure cancer in other parts of the world instead of chasing after people who are growing weed. Whereas, they're not chasing after our politicians who are smoking cocaine in their houses," he said.
Sowore, the publisher of online news platform, Sahara Reporters, is the party chairman of new political party, the African Action Congress (AAC), and is expected to win the party's ticket to contest against President Muhammadu Buhari at next year's polls.