Reno Omokri, former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan has urged President Bola Tinubu to ban sports betting apps in the country.
Omokri argued that a ban on sports betting apps could even help improve the value of the naira.
In a series of tweets posted on his verified X handle on Wednesday, Omokri, who quoted the National Lottery Trust Fund, lamented that “$1 billion is spent on gambling daily in Nigeria.”
His tweet read, “President Tinubu can immediately improve the economic conditions of most Nigerians and make the Naira grow by issuing an Executive Order authorizing 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 Twitter ban.”
He further stated that an average Nigerian spends “$15 daily on sports betting and other types of gambling.”
Omokri noted that despite the high rate of gambling in the country, the “vast majority of that amount” is leaving the shores of the country to foreign nations, compared to the nation’s externally generated revenue.
“This is scary. How much of our GDP are we pissing away like that? More money is leaving Nigeria through gambling than is coming in,” he wrote.
Omokri cautioned., “The Naira can never sustain its rally under such circumstances.”
The tweet further states that “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. Please fact-check me.
“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.”
Furthermore, Omokri, in his post, urged Tinubu to “act on such a matter as threatening to our national security as this gambling epidemic.”
He also condemned the illegal means through which some Nigerian youths sought money “to fund their gambling habit.”
