Former aide to ex president Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Reno Omokri has decried that gambling is destroying the lives of Nigerian youths.
According to him, the average Nigerian squanders fifteen (15) dollars ($15) on sports betting and other forms of gambling.
Mr. Omokri made this known on his X, formerly Twitter account on Wednesday – and urged the president to put an end to sports betting in Nigeria.
He said: “President Tinubu can immediately improve the economic conditions of most Nigerians and make the Naira grow by issuing an Executive Order authorising the Nigerian Communications Commission to ban sports betting apps from the App Store of any GSM Internet Service Provider in Nigeria and revoking the licenses of any physical sports betting operators in Nigeria. It makes better sense than Buhari’s draconian #TwitterBan.
“There is such an epidemic of gambling in Nigeria and it is destroying Nigerian youths. $1 billion is spent on gambling daily in Nigeria, according to the National Lottery Trust Fund. The average Nigerian spends $15 daily on sports betting and other types of gambling, with the vast majority of that amount leaving our economy and going to places like Russia, South Africa, and Europe. The Naira can never sustain its rally under such circumstances.”
Omokri expressed his displeasure explaining that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is too low, hence the country should not be losing such amount of money to his counterparts as a result of gambling.
“This is scary. How much is our GDP that we are pissing it away like that? More money is leaving Nigeria through gambling than is coming in. But Tinubu is an accountant, he must know that this parasitic economic sabotage will destroy Nigeria if left unchecked.”
He further disclosed that a lot of the petty crime in Nigeria is caused by youths seeking money through all means to fund their gambling habit.
He advised President Bola Tinubu to act fast, stressing that the gambling epidemic is a threat to Nigeria’s security.
