Prominent media personality, Reno Omokri, has urged President Bola Tinubu to issue an executive order banning sports betting applications in the country.
Omokri suggested on Wednesday morning through a series of tweets on X that the President could improve the economic conditions of Nigerians and strengthen the Naira by revoking the licenses of physical sports betting operators.
According to Omokri, despite its controversial nature, this decision would make more sense than ex-president Buhari’s #Twitter Ban between June 2021 and January 2022.
“There is such an epidemic of gambling in Nigeria and it is destroying Nigerian youths,” Mr Omokri said. Omokri cited a report by the National Lottery Trust Fund, stating that $1 billion is spent on gambling daily in Nigeria. He added that the average Nigerian injects $15 daily into the economies of Russia, South Africa and other European countries through sports betting.
“This is scary,” he pointed out. “How much is our GDP that we are pissing it away like that? More money is leaving Nigeria through gambling than is coming in.”
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Omokri, a special assistant to the President during Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, noted that President Tinubu, being an accountant, should understand the economic sabotage that sports betting represents to the country, unlike his predecessor Buhari.
Omokri also attributed the rise in petty crime in Nigeria to young people looking for money to support their gambling habits. He argued that it would be irresponsible for a first-rate accountant like President Tinubu to do nothing about an issue that he regards as a threat to national security.
In another tweet on Wednesday evening, Mr Omokri further explained his position on sports betting in the country, saying the biggest difficulty in the country was not poverty but the misapplication of wealth.
“You can just imagine how much better our country would be if we channel the money, energy and time we spend on these vices [gambling and pornography] on something productive,” he said.
He suggested that if a total ban on online gambling, sports betting and pornography was not possible, then safeguards, such as age restrictions and a requirement for operators to invest a percentage of their earnings into the community, should be put in place.
“If steps are not taken, and this cancer continues to spread, Nigeria will certainly not meet her developmental goals,” he added.
