FG Earns N6bn from Lottery in Five Years

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The federal government recorded over N6 billion from lottery proceeds in the last five years, the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), has said.

The Commission also disclosed that the government is already spending over a billion naira out of the proceeds to procure sports equipment in four primary schools in each of the 774 local government areas in the country. Twenty eight of the nation’s 36 states have already been covered.

The NLRC Director-General, Lanre Gbajabiamila who made the disclosures in Abuja at the public presentation to Mr. Anthony Akoma, the winner of the biggest Nigerian Jackpot of Plenty Million National Lottery, said: “So far, this commission has earned over N6 billion for the federal government in the last five years from lottery proceeds.”

The proceeds, he said, are also kept with the Lottery Trust Funds under the  supervision of the Presidency.

Gbajabiamila was represented at the presentation by Mr. Yagba Tsav, an Assistant-Director, Regulatory and Monitoring Department of the commission.

He said “in every licence in the lottery scheme, the proceeds are shared, government takes 20 per cent and put into the development of infrastructure like schools, sports, hospitals and road construction and this goes along to improve the economy of the country.

“So far, out of the over N6 billion we earned, as much as N1 billion was approved by the last administration for the purchase of sports equipment to four primary schools each in the 774 Local government across the country; the process is ongoing and we have finished with 28 States and we are going over to others,” he said.

He urged as many Nigerians who are interested to move ahead and play because lottery is not gambling but used to uplift the standard of living of the people. “The public should know that lottery is a venture out to create wealth distribution; it is out to see that poor people are taken care of,” he said.

In his remarks, the Head, AG&H integrated Concepts (Plenty Million) licensed lottery operators and promoters of the winner, Thompson Eja, described the event as the biggest jackpot winning in Nigeria.

‘”It is worthy day to present the winner to the public also bring on board our channel partner – Diamond Bank that made it easy for us to pay the winning to any one that plays it in any part of Nigeria,” he noted.

Eja explained that his company is the only lottery that allows people to play through short message service (SMS) using the banks.

The NLRC was established in 2005 by an Act to, among others, register, monitor and regulate all lottery activities and businesses in Nigeria in accordance with international best practices.