The House of Representatives voted down a bill seeking to legalise the cultivation, sale and use of cannabis, also known as marijuana, for commercial purposes.
Apart from the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the sponsors, all those who spoke at the second reading criticised the bill on Thursday.
The criticisms against the proposal forced the sponsors to demand that it be stepped down for review, a prayer that the lawmakers unanimously granted.
The sponsors had clashed on Wednesday over legislation.
Two members of the House, Benjamin Kalu and Olumide Osoba, had sponsored separate bills seeking to amend the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act to expand the scope of the anti-narcotics agency to issue licenses for the cultivation, sale, and use of marijuana.
When the bill was brought up for second reading in plenary on Wednesday, another member of the House, Miriam Onuoha, objected that the content of the bill was identical to hers.
The Cannabis Control Bill, 2020, sponsored by Onuoha, is titled “A Bill for an Act to Regulate the Cultivation, Possession, Availability, and Trade of Cannabis for Medical and Research Use, and Related Purposes.”
The Speaker had in his ruling asked both sides to liaise with the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Abubakar Fulata, so as to identify the differences and similarities between the bills ahead of their sitting on Thursday.
On Thursday,…