- Reps Condemn Lottery Operators for N1.5 tr Loss
The House of Representatives has expressed disappointment with the inability of the Nigerian Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) to regulate the sector effectively.
There are 21 licensed operators currently running the sector in the country following the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The lawmakers blamed the loss of over N1.493 trillion by the country on the failure of the Commission to carry out its responsibilities diligently.
The House has consequently threatened lottery operators found culpable of non remittance of their dues with the withdrawal of their licenses.
The Commission has however cited lack of effective regulation in the industry as a major contributory factor for the abysmal revenue drive.
The acting Executive Secretary of the National Lottery Trust Fund, Bello Maigari, while appearing before House Committee on Inter-Governmental Affairs regretted that the sector has over the years failed to meet its set revenue target.
According to him, of the estimated revenue target of N1.5 trillion, the sector could only generate N7b in 13 years.
Noting that lottery and gaming businesses have continued to flourish without proper regulation in the country, Maigari said the Nigerian lottery market according to industry experts is the most attractive market in Africa.
He said: “The industry is worth over N1.5 trillion as we speak. Lottery has significantly contributed to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of many countries across the continent and about 7.5 million and 22 million Nigerians engage in lottery and sport betting daily.?
“Records at our disposal indicates that cumulative returns of about 5 years stood at about 7.2 billion and this is unacceptable in a nation with so much potential like Nigeria”.
He however regretted that conflict of interest, sharp practices, sabotage among others as factors are militating against the revenue growth from the industry in Nigeria.
“This has giving dubios businessmen and agents the latitude to undermine government interest,” he added.?
On his part, the Director General (DG) of NLRC, Lanre Gbajabiamila said outdated lottery laws has contributed to the stunted growth of the sector in the country.
He however explained that his commission is poised to raise the sector to international standard, “A lot has been said about the sector which I concur with, and we still have lots of work to do, as our laws are outdated and need to be rejigged.”
“We need this House, especialy the committee to help us in updating the lottery and gaming laws, they are outdated and a lot of things are going on out there that need to be tapped into using enabling legialtions.”
“However, as regulators, we are putting some checks and balances in place as the way the industry was run before wasn’t proper,” he noted.?
While declaring open the hearing, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, in terms of income generation rated the country’s lottery sector higher than other sectors after oil and gas, Customs and Excise and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
The Committee assured that all necessary legislative action would be taken to bring to book all operators found culpable to have shortchanged the country.
Committee Chairman, Oseni Kangiwa said the responsibility to ensure the robustness of the sector lies on NLRC for effective regulatory framework and standards for the operators.
