SUPREME COURT AND THE LOTTERY ACT

At last, states have powers over lottery and games of chance

Many interest groups had hoped that the return to democratic dispensation in May 1999 would create a golden opportunity for the political class to restore the nation’s federal status. Regrettably, the status quo has been allowed to remain despite two national conferences and several amendments of the 1999 Constitution. To compound the crisis, the National Assembly has on several occasions eroded the powers of state governments by passing laws that continue to concentrate more powers in the centre contrary to the basic tenets of federalism.

Convinced that the National Lottery Act, 2005 was an unwarranted usurpation of the residual powers vested in state governments, Lagos State challenged its constitutional validity at the Supreme Court. Other states later joined and lined behind Lagos in the suit. Specifically, the apex court was asked to determine whether the gaming and lottery sector falls under the exclusive legislative list, the concurrent legislative list, or the residual legislative list of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. The exclusive legislative list is reserved solely for the National Assembly, the concurrent list includes matters that both the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly can legislate on, while the residual list covers issues exclusively within the jurisdiction of the State Houses of Assembly. At the end, the Supreme Court held that lottery and games of chance fall under residual list and therefore exclusively under the purview of the states.

  The Supreme Court judgment has put an end to that constitutional infraction. For Lagos State and others, the judgment reinforces the principles of true federalism, which empowers states to chart their path for effective regulation. Among others, the Supreme Court held that the Lottery Act is unconstitutional because the National Assembly lacks the power to make such law for states. The court therefore ordered that the National Lottery Act 2005 should cease to apply in any state of the federation, adding that the National Assembly can only make such law for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where it has the powers to legislate for.

However, there is something about the Supreme Court judgment that is being overlooked, even if it has become more or less a culture: the time it took before the court delivered its final judgment.  It took 16 years.  Filed in 2008, the case is a stark reminder that justice delivery remains agonisingly slow in Nigeria. Besides, the case is also emblematic of the problem with the judiciary. At different times, the case was litigated at the Federal High Court, and the Lagos State High Court. While the federal high court held that it was the federal government that had the powers to regulate lottery, the Lagos High Court decided in favour of Lagos State.

While the judgment may have further defined the power arrangements between the federal government and the states, it has also created its own problems. Bookmakers will now have to start dealing with individual states as each state will also have to make its own lottery laws and most likely establish agency for enforcement. While this could impose additional burden on lottery operators, we believe the judgment is right. For our democracy to develop and thrive, critical stakeholders must obey both the letters and the spirit of the 1999 Constitution as amended.