How National Lottery Trust Fund Drives ‘Good Causes’ with Strategic Intervention

The National Lottery Trust Fund, established by an act of the National Assembly, plays a crucial role in managing a percentage of proceeds from gaming and lottery activities in Nigeria. These include intervention in education, health, social services, disaster management and infrastructural projects. Collectively, the interventions are termed “good causes,” according to the Executive Secretary of NLTF, Dr. Bello Maigari, Iyke Bede reports

A typical season at the Abuja headquarters of the National Lottery Trust Fund witnesses critical meetings by staff of key departments going through an assortment of requests from communities and stakeholders in different sectors across the country, appealing for urgent assistance. Guided by civil service rules and other extant statutes, the NLTF employs a bottom-up approach, conducting surveys and engaging field officers to identify needs across the country. Requests for interventions go through approval processes, including potential review by the Federal Executive Council, normally accessed through the Ministry for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, currently supervised by Hon. Zephaniah Jisalo. 

Regarding intervention, Dr. Bello Maigari, Executive Secretary of the NLTF observed that a set of policies and strategies are in place to discern areas requiring them.

Maigari stated that the NLTF had developed a policy and a strategy for that “and this is to do with the compilation of the needs of the entire country in the areas I mentioned earlier: health, water, sanitation, relief management and basic infrastructure — it’s all-encompassing.”

The NLTF boss added, “We do this through a survey, through what we call a bottom-up approach. We engage all our field officers who are located in the six geopolitical zones to interface with communities in villages and local governments to harvest these needs and confirm these needs through the state governments. If it concerns health, we meet the state ministry of health. If it concerns education, we visit the state ministry of education and confirm those needs and bring these needs to our headquarters in Abuja, where we sit down, analyse them and put them in a database. 

“This database is structured into a programme. When the board sits, it decides what area we are going to intervene in. It decides the sector. We fast-track it to the ministry for approval and subsequently to the Federal Executive Council. Once approval is granted, we come back to implement the project.”

Since assuming office in February 2019, Maigari has implemented a policy framework guiding interventions in various sectors guided by a two-pronged approach: A targeted approach, generally covering issues of disaster and other emergency projects, or through a generic approach.

Notable areas of intervention include health infrastructure, where the fund addressed deficiencies in medical facilities and equipment across primary health care centres and tertiary health institutions. Additionally, the current administration emphasises special interventions for women and children to empower vulnerable populations, aligning with the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ of President Bola Tinubu.

Regarding funding, the percentage of proceeds directed to the NLTF has changed over time. Initially set at 20%, the National Lottery Act of 2017 reduced it to 7.5%. A recent regulation further adjusted this to two per cent, with the National Lottery Regulatory Commission retaining one per cent.

To enhance public awareness, the agency plans to engage with the media and design programmes highlighting its activities. Maigari acknowledged the need for awareness and enlightenment, expressing the intent to make the NLTF more visible to Nigerians.

While the exact volume of the last fund is not specified, he noted progress and emphasised the importance of automation for efficient revenue collection. The NLTF acknowledges the need to upgrade skills, particularly in IT, to keep pace with advancement in the industry.

“The way to go in this industry is automation. We must design a system where we can collect our revenue real-time online without really wasting time depending on the good conscience of the patrons and licensees now that the industry has grown to this level,” Maigari noted. “We need to tap into that robust advancement in technology so that we will make the organisation more efficient and more effective in promoting good causes for Nigerians.”

In enhancing efficiency within the agency, Maigari highlighted the importance of consistently training its staff to acquire supplementary skills, thereby strengthening the overall efforts of the agency.

“We have a sizable number of staff. What is lacking is skill in a few areas. We are trying to upgrade our skills in IT, which is the current mainstay and driver of this industry. We are also trying to see how we can skill up in managing the fund and the processes of this organisation. Of course, we need to do better in legal matters; that is, having a team that will defend the actions of the organisation. Going forward, that will also add value to the work of the organisation. We are working in different areas to bring the National Lottery Trust Fund up so that our services will continue to be efficient, our resources will be managed efficiently, and Nigerians will better appreciate the organisation,” he added.