ABUJA – Mr Adolphus Ekpe, the Director-General, National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), said that the commission had generated more than N4 billion since its inception.
Ekpe made this known in Abuja during a media briefing to mark the commission’s 10th anniversary.
He said the money had been remitted to the National Lottery Trust Fund.
He said that President Goodluck Jonathan had approved that more than N1 billion from the money generated be deployed for the execution of “good courses’’ projects nationwide.
Part of the proceeds from the national lottery programme are used to finance social projects under the good courses projects.
The good courses projects, according to him, allow losers to benefit in their different geopolitical zones through the implementation of various social projects/programmes.
He said that currently, the commission was supplying sporting equipment to primary schools nationwide under the good courses project.
“The president has approved the execution of good courses project by supplying sporting equipment to over 1,000 primary schools nationwide.
“It is on record that more than N4 billion has been generated so far and it is out of it that money has been approved for the execution of good courses project.”
He said that the commission could generate more than N1 billion annually, adding however, that technology constraints posed a major challenge to the programme.
Admitting that the commission also faced capacity challenges, Ekpe said that plans were under way to train staff of the commission.
“We are training our staff ; we have the problem of capacity here, and regulators can only regulate well when they have the capability to regulate.
“There is the need to have appropriate technology; for now, the technology is not there; the manpower is not adequately developed, but we are working on it.”
He said that in the next five years, the commission would be able to generate N10 billion to the coffers of the National Lottery Trust Fund.
“I believe that in the next five years, whether I am here or not, the staff should be able to generate enough money to take care of all the needs of the commission.
“Also, they should be able to generate not less than N10 billion to the coffers of the trust fund annually to contribute to good courses.”
He said that since the establishment of the commission, it had issued licenses and permits to lottery operators and promoters to grow the market.
He said that in order to bring lottery closer to the people, the commission had established offices in 14 states of the federation.
He further said that the commission was poised to sanitise the lottery industry and rid it of illegal operators as well as make the legal operators play by the rules.
The director-general said that the commission was working with security agencies to curb the activities of illegal operators.
According to him, the commission loses billions of naira annually to illegal operators.
Ekpe said that the commission also planned to sign Memoranda of Understanding with government agencies to strengthen the commission’s business development, regulation, monitoring and enforcement.
He said that lottery was being repositioned to grow the industry and contribute significantly to the GDP in years to come.
He described lottery as a win-win game that citizens play to contribute to the development of the country, stressing that it was different from gambling.
A 10-man committee headed by Mr Henry Uwadiae was inaugurated to plan the anniversary celebration with a zero budget.