National Lottery Regulatory Commission Has Remitted N5bn In 10yrs – DG

The National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) says it has remitted more than N5 billion to the National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF) in the past 10 years of its operation for execution of people-oriented projects.

The Director General of the Commission, Mr. Adolphus Ekpe, disclosed this yesterday, in Abuja, during the 2015 Lottery Achievers Award, to mark the 10th year anniversary of lottery regulation in Nigeria.

“So far, over N5 billion has been remitted to the NLTF for the execution of good causes projects. This was possible, though with stark reality of educating the people about what lottery truly represents.

“The general public was hardly aware of the existence of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission or its sister agency, the National Lottery Trust Fund in 2005. Even after five years, public perception of lottery was negative and viewed as a venture not for decent members of the society, as it was equated more with gambling,” said Ekpe.

This made the Commission to embark on aggressive nationwide enlightenment, sensitization and rebranding campaigns to change the negative perception of lottery across the country, which is considered as a viable revenue source to the economy.

“We are happy to note that all the enlightenment efforts have helped in changing the perception of the general public today towards lottery business as a tool for national development,” he explained.

In addition to this, the NLRC henchman also stated that the Commission been able to record other milestones in the area of job creation by increasing its work force from 11 in 2005 to 1500 in 2015 in line with government’s employment agenda. The Commission had also expanded into 14 states across the country and further granted 20 licenses to different indigenous firms with a mandate to run the business of national lottery in Nigeria.

To achieve effective and efficient monitoring and regulation of all lottery activities, the NLRC boss said the Commission had singed memorandum of understanding with the Nigerian Police, Economic and Financial Crime Commission and the Nigeria Communications Commission to combat illegal lottery operators.

For the NLRC to realize its full potential as a viable source of revenue generation that can impact the GDP significantly, he said the Commission had concluded plans to commence the automation of the monitoring and regulation of lottery in Nigeria, become the highest revenue generating agency in the country, secure enhanced salary package for its staff and move into its own office complex.