Rotimi Akeredolu, the governor of Ondo state and Col. Muhammad Mustapha Abdallah rtd, the chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) are in Thailand to learn more about Cannabis extract development.
The program which started on Monday focuses on modalities for planting, licensing and extracting cannabis oil from Ondo state.
Akeredolu while at the programme said he appreciated the Thai Government and said Ondo State is known as the largest in the planting state of cannabis.
He said “we are here to study how cannabis can be of more advantage to the state and Nigeria at large just the way Thai Government has done. Cannabis is used for medical purposes; how can it be cultivated for specific purposes and not be abused?”.
Col. Abdullah said the current trend in the world is to look into the advantage of cannabis in the making of food and drugs.
They also visited the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok where the Management made presentations on how to control cannabis, licensing, pharmaceutical benefits of cannabis etc
They also toured the University’s Cannabis research laboratory where Governor Akeredolu proposed that they also work along with Nigerian species during their research as Ondo State is ready for partnership with the Naresuan University Team.
Last year, presidential canididate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore had proposed the legalisation of Cannabis for export in Nigeria as opposed to the burning of the plant by the NDLEA.
In April 2019, Uganda became the first African country to sign a deal worth $160 million to export cannabis to Canada and Gemany were it will be used for medical and recreational puposes.