Why marijuana farms thrive in Ondo, Ekiti

The expansive marijuana farms in Ondo and Ekiti states are always in the news, regularly set ablaze by security agents, but they return eventually. What is responsible for the knack of these illicit plantations to rise up from the ashes? Daily Trust takes a look. Apart from large investment in education that Ekiti and Ondo […]

The expansive marijuana farms in Ondo and Ekiti states are always in the news, regularly set ablaze by security agents, but they return eventually. What is responsible for the knack of these illicit plantations to rise up from the ashes? Daily Trust takes a look.
Apart from large investment in education that Ekiti and Ondo states are reputable for, the states are also not found wanting in their contributions to the country’s Gross Domestic Product through abundant human and natural resources. The two states, on the Southwest geo-political zone, are blessed with fertile land for the cultivation of cash crops such as cocoa, palm oil, timber, yam, rice, and more. However, rather than focus on how to exploit these opportunities, some residents are looking elsewhere for business – though of the illicit kind – cultivating marijuana, also known as cannabis  or Indian hemp.
The states have gradually assumed status of being the leading cultivation centres for marijuana in Nigeria. Investigation in Ekiti revealed that marijuana being produced in the state is in higher demand due to its potency. The state proved its leading role when officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) recently discovered and destroyed  over 2,000 marijuana farms in Ise and Ogotun areas within this year alone, while it also seized a total of 1,562kgs of the substance from cultivators and couriers. Sources also said the high quality of the cannabis produced in Ekiti, Ondo and Osun is in high demand internationaliy because it is grown on very fertile land.
Not too long ago, the Ondo State command of the NDLEA told the world that they destroyed over 40 hectares marijuana-planted land in the state between January and February, 2015 while 61.298.47kgs of cannabis was also seized between January and June, 2015. The commander of the agency in the state, Mr. Mohammed Sokoto, also said during the United Nations International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, that 18 persons had been convicted to various terms.
While commending the state government in its efforts at eradicating drug business and consumption among the people of the state, Sokoto implored cannabis planters to turn a new leaf. He said the NDLEA in the state was working in partnership with the government which was already engaged in robust and vigorous programmes of crop substitution for cannabis planters across the state.
The Cocoa Revolution Initiative (CRI), Sokoto said, is the most practical step towards eradicating marijuana cultivation, because most people, especially youths could now channel their energies towards cocoa.
A former NDLEA boss in the state, Ibrahim Abdul, also recently said the agency is facing open hostilities from the communities where marijuana farms are located, saying this is causing a setback to the fight against its cultivation, adding that youths of such areas are often induced to protect the farmers.
Early this year, another former commander of the Agency in Ondo state, Akingbade Bamidele, told Daily Trust that to fight the drug war in the state, government must be actively involved. He disclosed that those who plant marijuana actually go to land owners pretending to be cocoa farmers, only to branch out and cultivate the illicit crop.
Marijuana is fast-displacing cash crops and despoiling the fertility of the land, according to experts, rendering soil useless for the plantation of useful crops.
NDLEA Commander in Ekiti State, Mr Suleiman Jadi recently said in a bid to dissuade people from getting hooked to marijuana, the agency had so far convicted 20 persons for drug-related offences in 2015. According to him, those convicted at the Federal High Court in Ado Ekiti were nabbed at various locations across the state before they were prosecuted. But more worrisome, perhaps, is the fact that the financiers of marijuana cultivation in the state do not reside in Ekiti, but in far away Edo, Delta and other South-South states of the federation, he said. Analysts say the barons who bankroll the ventures are part of the main reason the problem persists.
NDLEA operatives mainly get tip-offs and swoop into action, making arrests and seizing illicit wares. It was on one such occasion that operatives made arrests during which many farms were sealed off, with the largest seizure in Ogotun Ekiti, a neighbouring town to Osun State, in Ekiti Southwest local government, leading to the arrest of three culprits whom he said  are  being detained, with seven arrested in Ikogosi for related offences, to be charged to court soon.
Funding, however, has been  a major headache for the clampdown on marijuana farming and the barons who bankroll the illegal ventures. Jadi said: “To really bring the barons to justice, we have to send our operatives to those states for investigations and this costs money. Even in most cases, my men would have to destroy several cannabis farms manually, which is not easy. So, what we crave for now is aerial spraying through chopper, so that we can destroy as many  hectares of land with minimal effort.”
The membership of the old State Drug Abuse Committee has been extended to 19, comprising all paramilitary agencies and other critical stakeholders, pointing out that the name has also been changed to State Drug Control Committee , for the fight against drug abuse to be more  robust and holistic.
Jadi told Daily Trust that the counselling unit of the agency had also interacted with about 222 drug abusers, which he said had helped  the NDLEA in reducing the menace of mental disorders among youths. He said most appalling is the fact that most of the families of those who suffered mental disorders as a result  of drug abuse, didn’t have the knowledge and awareness to approach the agency for rehab.
An indigene of Ogotun, a civil servant who pleaded to be anonymous, lamented that cultivation of marijuana is giving their community a bad name, urging the government to equip NDLEA officials to be able to save the situation. “It is not the indigenes that cultivate marijuana, but labourers who come to farm. We are hard-working people and we don’t indulge in the cultivation of Indian Hemp,” he added.
A secondary school teacher, Mr. Iransiola Ahmed, decried the activities of the farmers in Ogotun Ekiti, saying their illegal activities is giving Ekiti a bad image in the South West. According to him, those engaging in that business are not from the state. He called on the state government to effectively equip the police and NDLEA officials with modern equipment to be able to tackle them.
A farmer in Ogotun, Mr. Samuel Ajadi, urged the government to engage local hunters in searching for marijuana plantations, and he advised the state government to make effective a bill passed into law during former governor Segun Oni’s administration, which outlawed growing of the plant in the state. He added, “At that time, the law made it illegal for anyone to cultivate or give out his land for marijuana in the state. The government also vowed to confiscate any land used for the cultivation of the illegal crop, including any building used for storage after harvest.”
When all is said and done and it is time to rehabilitate those affected by marijuana, the NDLEA is forced to take care of some of them. “We rehabilitate them and return them and re-unite them with their families when they are back to health,” an official said.
A doctor at the Psychiatric Section of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), who requested anonymity, said the negative effects of indulging  in marijuana includes health challenges related to the liver, heart, lungs, as well as poor coordination, immune system suppression, reduction of male sex hormones and reduced sexual capacity.  He warned that consumption of the plant could also cause paranoia and decrease short-term memory, among others.