Last week, Governor Rotimi Odunayo Akeredolu of my native Ondo State literally turned himself into the Jamaican reggae idol, Peter Tosh (now late), when he asked the Federal Government to legalise the cultivation of marijuana or “igbo” as our people call it but whose botanical name is cannabis sativa. It is also called Indian hemp, “gbanna” “crack”, among other names and aliases. Peter Tosh, in one of his deviant songs, had crooned: Legalise it/And I will advertise it”. If the Federal Government legalises “igbo” today, Governor Akeredolu is ready to immediately begin its cultivation on a massive scale to earn foreign exchange for struggling Ondo State.



Trust the typical Nigerian elites not ready to think out of the box; those who do not see eye-to-eye politically with the governor; those who feel threatened by Akeredolu’s advocacy which seeks to “put sand in their garri”; and, of course, those who must defend their “territory” or do their job. Among these are the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and a motley crowd of presidential and APC Alsatian dogs usually averse to anything that looks like stepping out of official presidential line.


Until this controversy broke, I never knew of the existence of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Drug Abuse (PASEDA) under the able leadership of my friend and brother, retired Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa, former Military Administrator of Lagos State. I dare to say that Marwa remains, till date, one of the best governors Lagos ever had. He also remains, in my view, one of the finest leaders that can take this country to the real next level (If you know what I mean) if given the opportunity. Although the press statement issued in his name pillorying Akeredolu for his “legalise marijuana” statement was unnecessarily harsh, I am reluctant to arraign Marwa with the motley crowd listed above because of his illustrious antecedents. We shall return to that.







Together with some other Nigerian leaders involved in the drug abuse war, Akeredolu had visited Thailand to see, according to the NDLEA boss, Muhammad Abdallah, how that country was trying to solve its drug abuse problems. From the NDLEA’s press statement attacking Akeredolu, Abdallah saw Thailand’s efforts at diverting the attention of its own people from the cultivation of illegal crops (i.e. marijuana) to legal crops (possibly, rice). There is nothing wrong with that and we can encourage it here as well. Ondo State, which Akeredolu governs, has the reputation or notoriety (depending) for hemp cultivation. It is obvious that the hemp farmers grow the crop for commercial purposes; they sell it to earn money to take care of their needs. No one needs to grow cannabis on a large scale for personal consumption. While growing up in my home town of Owo in the sixties and seventies, I had helped soldiers of the 133 battalion of the Nigerian Army quartered in the town and who were our tenants to water and look after their marijuana crops.


They were usually planted in pots, cups and such other containers. There was no big deal about it. There are, however, many other crops that can be grown as foreign exchange earners in Ondo State such as cocoa, cassava, palm trees to mention but a few. If the FG comes with the requisite resources while the NDLEA and others bring the experience of what they saw the Thai people do, Ondo State can be weaned, to a large extent, from the cultivation of marijuana and their attention diverted to the cultivation of other economic crops. Mere destruction of cannabis farms without replacing them with something else is sheer waste of time and resources. It has not worked and it will not work. I said “other economic crops” because marijuana is, indeed, an economic crop, which is a potential foreign exchange earner.



It is also medicinal crop, used as anaesthesia and is component of many drugs that we consume to cure one ailment or another without batting an eyelid. This is the other side of the coin that Akeredolu was drawing attention to – and you will not blame him for doing so. He runs a state that is cash-strapped. He has ideas but no funds to execute them. He sees his people in a quandary. Suddenly he sees a window of opportunity open that can help the state build its internally generated revenue. Is it not because Lagos State has high IGR that it is able to do the much we are seeing? He has also seen that the age-old practice of destroying marijuana farms has not delivered the desired results. Those pillorying Akeredolu are closing their eyes to the whole picture.


There are always two sides to a coin. The single story mentality sees and dwells on only one side of an argument – and this is perilous. The impression has also been created, even if inadvertently, that Akeredolu meant that marijuana should be cultivated for local use, so that it can ruin more of our youths. I read Akeredolu’s statement; that was not what it said. He wanted the medicinal value of hemp explored like the civilised world is doing – and I agree with him. He wanted the foreign exchange value of hemp explored like others will do if they were in our shoes – here, again, I agree with him. He simply was asking that we begin to think out of the box and address the issue holistically. I am not an Akeredolu fan. I have more often come down hard on him than praise him but on this issue of government having a better and more robust outlook on marijuana, I stand with him. That is, however, not to say that the other side does not have a point; which is why I said earlier that this issue is like a coin; it has two sides. It is like a bird, which African-American politician, Jesse Jackson, said needs two wings to fly.



The adverse effect of marijuana, indeed, all dangerous drugs, on the population, especially our youths, the so-called leaders of tomorrow, cannot be trivialised, glossed over or wished away. I must confess that I don’t know how it will be done but we must ensure that local cultivation of cannabis for export does not lead us to becoming end-users of the product. Already even with its criminalisation, hemp cultivation and use go on unabated, the best efforts of NDLEA notwithstanding. Nnamdi Azikiwe told a Colonial officer: If a policy is not working; change it! Organised crime is usually steps ahead of law enforcement everywhere and more so here where enforcement is generally lax and corruption, rife. Even with its criminalisation, people smoke hemp openly everywhere these days in broad daylight.



To think this was what they ceaselessly brutalised Fela for! Today it is everywhere. If Fela, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and others could see from the grave, they will feel vindicated. What is worse, more dangerous but legal drugs are in circulation today. Some are not even drugs but a combination of two or more drinks or you add “sweet” to a drink and, pronto, you have drugs more potent than marijuana! Some just need to sniff a refuse dump or soak-away! What are we talking about! Who needs marijuana or cocaine/heroin to get high these days? That’s too expensive and up there.





Hard drugs, dangerous drugs, are everywhere around us. And they are legal. We must begin to think out of the box! Is there anything with advantage that does not have a disadvantage? Are there drugs without side effects? Is cigarette not harmful to health? The carbonated drinks and volumes of sugar and sugary substances and foods that we consume as we go are harmful to our health: But are they all not legal? Crude oil and gas exploration and production are dangerous to people’s health. Gold mining and such other extractive economic activities endanger not just people’s health but also their life; still we engage in them. Pity we don’t have statistics here to show which of these and marijuana cause the worse adverse effects on people’s health and life. Think out of the box! Abandon the one story narrative and critically examine this issue holistically. In the U.S., the Americas and Europe, marijuana is being legalised along certain lines. If we can’t take the lead; let us be among the early risers and not come in late after everyone has taken all the available benefits. That sluggard mentality, attitudinal problem of “fire brigade” approach and “carrying last” have impacted negatively every facet of our national life. Black man, think out of the box! Back to Marwa: I trust in his ability and capacity for rational thinking. I have watched him at close quarters unravel seemingly intractable problems with adroit touches and Solomonic wisdom. I beseech that he let us do so again by investigating the Akeredolu’s initiative further. Every day new discoveries, new knowledge, new possibilities and vistas compel us to interrogate expired dogmas, stereotypes and old ways of doing things. LAST WORD: If the billions of dollars being wasted searching for crude oil in the North is spent fighting desert encroachment that is driving everyone down South, we will all be the better for it

https://www.newtelegraphng.com/2019/05/should-nigeria-legalise-marijuana/