Activist and former presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has urged the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency to halt the destruction of cannabis farms across Nigeria, arguing that the practice erases potential economic gains instead of creating them.

Sowore said Nigeria should look at regulation and commercialisation rather than continued raids, noting that many countries are already profiting from legal cannabis for medical, industrial and export use.

Speaking in response to NDLEA’s recent operations, Sowore said the agency’s focus on burning farms ignores the economic reality of rural communities where cannabis has become a major source of income.

He argued that criminalisation has not stopped cultivation, but has only pushed it deeper into forests and pushed farmers further into poverty.

According to him, Nigeria risks being left behind globally while other nations build billion-dollar cannabis industries.

“Stop destroying cannabis farms, you’re wasting economic opportunities,” he said.

The call comes as NDLEA intensifies its crackdown on illicit cultivation.

The agency recently destroyed 329,865.585kg of assorted illicit drugs worth an estimated N301.06bn in Lagos. The haul included cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and various strains of cannabis such as Canadian Loud and skunk.

NDLEA Chairman, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), has said cannabis sits at the centre of Nigeria’s drug crisis. He cited the 2018 National Drug Use Survey which estimated that 10.6 million adults used cannabis in the previous year.

Field assessments also showed nearly 8,900 hectares of land under cannabis cultivation in the South-West, often hidden in forests and linked to organised trafficking networks.

Marwa warned that over 75% of the 15 million kilograms of drugs seized by NDLEA in the last five years was cannabis. He linked the trade to insecurity, saying terrorists and kidnappers now live in cannabis-growing communities.

Rather than rely solely on enforcement, NDLEA has launched an “Alternative Development Programme” — the first of its kind in Africa.

The pilot began in Ilu Abo, Ifon and Eleyewo communities in Ondo State. The plan is to provide farmers with financial support, training and assistance to switch to lawful crops like cocoa, cassava, yam and beans.

Marwa said the goal is to address poverty, limited livelihoods and weak rural infrastructure that drive people into cannabis farming.

“We cannot arrest our way out of this problem. If we don’t address why people grow cannabis, the farms will return,” he said.

Ondo State is both Nigeria’s leading cocoa producer and its biggest cannabis grower. Globally, Nigeria ranks as the world’s eighth-largest consumer of cannabis.

Supporters of regulation argue cannabis could boost pharmaceuticals, textiles, cosmetics and exports if legalised. NDLEA and health experts counter that abuse fuels crime, school dropouts, substance dependence and pressure on healthcare systems.

The debate now centres on whether Nigeria should continue with destruction and substitution, or explore a regulated framework like some countries in Africa, Europe and the Americas.

Source: Punch Newspapers