Ban and unban, this and that

This topic for the current edition of the hive learners featured content is actually quite tough but also very interesting. I have read several entries on this topic and I have seen different views on the things that are currently banned in Nigeria as well as things people would ban if they had the power. Everybody has their opinion on these things but sometimes it can be contradicting (I will explain later 😁)

OK, why did I say this topic is tough? It's because I couldn't think of anything that is banned in Nigeria that isn't so for a good reason. I mean, I researched banned items in Nigeria and I realized they are all banned for a good reason. I only just remembered about the cryptocurrency ban but that one has already been over-flogged by most Nigerians in this community. But yeah, if I'm to unban anything, it will be cryptocurrency. But come to think of it, is cryptocurrency really still banned in Nigeria?

I'm asking because as I'm typing this now, there's currently a 10% tax on cryptocurrency. The former president signed a bill before he left office that introduced a 10% taxation on digital assets which includes cryptocurrency, why will the Government put a tax on something that is banned? Your guess is as good as mine. But I think there has not been an official statement on it being unbanned, just an informal and behind the scene unbanning 😅

Anyway, that's the only good thing I can think of that is currently banned; cryptocurrency. Other things I know of (like rice and other food items) are okay being banned because the reason is to foster local production and boost our economy but I also think that the banning was done wrongly. The Government should have improved local production of these items before banning importation but that will be a topic for another day. Now for the thing I would like to ban.

Cigarette

First of all, why the hell do people smoke cigarettes in a hot country like Nigeria? Cigarettes were originally used by people in temperate countries to keep warm during winter but you see people under the scorching sun in Nigeria smoking cigarettes, tf! Just why? Despite the risk involved, they keep smoking pack after pack of cigarettes and end up getting addicted, the end result being lung cancer.

You know what's worst? The Nigerian government not doing anything about it. They banned hard drugs like Marijuana, meanwhile cigarettes should also be on that list. It poses a big health risk and I keep wondering why it's not banned. It's definitely the first thing that came to my mind when I read the details of this topic. Cigarettes are one of those things we copied from the West that doesn't make any sense because it doesn't have any reasonable benefits.

Now for something controversial. The above picture is usually used on Twitter to seek people's opinion on a particular topic which many people will not agree with and now I'm about to do the same for cryptocurrency. What is the controversial thing? Well, cryptocurrency trading is also gambling. One of the things that a lot of people said they would ban is gambling, specifically sports betting but it's also similar to cryptocurrency trading, so why ban one and leave the other?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a gambler and I don't I have never taken part in sport's betting but I know the havoc it can do but shouldn't we say the same for cryptocurrency? Sports betting makes people go broke but we can say the same for cryptocurrency. For example, in 2021 when bitcoin fell from $69,000 and dragged every other coin with it, a lot of people in the cryptoverse lost tremendous amounts of money, some exchanges even had to fold up!

Sport betters make predictions on teams that will win and stake their money just like how we make predictions on coins that will do well and stake our money on them. A lot of things in the world involve gambling; weighing your options and picking the one you think will be successful. Sometimes you're right, some other times you are not, nothing is certain. Even forex trading is also gambling! No matter how good you think you are, you can never have accurate predictions no matter the tools you use.

Well, I guess my point is that just because we don't understand how things work doesn't mean it's bad. The way people are saying sports betting should be banned is also the same way I have seen people online saying there should be a total ban on cryptocurrency because it's fraudulent. Some people call it a ponzi scheme, others call it a waste of time, and that's because some of them have put their hands into it and got burned terribly.

Thanks for reading

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