Speaking with the high police command at the Louis Edet House in Abuja recently, Igho said, “Recently, one of our major telecom operators made a profit of N2billion from a lottery game and I do not think it gave up to N20million to the public who played the lottery. Imagine the impact on the people if N1billion had been given to the public as prizes won in the lottery.”
A press statement released by the Public Relations Manager of the NLRC, Mr Yagba Tsav said the Director’s General visit to the police headquarters was “part of his efforts in soliciting the co-operation of the law enforcement agencies” in dealing with the recalcitrant telecom operators.
Igho explained, “Lottery is played everywhere in the world and in many cases it has been used to raise money for good causes and that is why many of the major edifies of the world were built from the proceeds of lotteries. Some people are surprised when I tell them that the Great Wall of China was built from the proceeds of lotteries. Many of the IVY League Universities like Harvard, Yale, etc, were built with lottery money.
“All over the world where governments wanted to raise money for good causes without increasing taxes, lottery is being explained as an alternative. And that is why in the UK for example 80 per cent of the funds for the 2012 Olympics is coming from lotteries. In fact, they contributed £840 million for the Olympics.
“Now, is it possible in Nigeria? The answer is yes. As I speak to you, one of my lottery licencees makes an average of N850 million per month. So the difference is that people have not felt the impact of lotteries because apart from one or two lottery operators that are doing the business legitimately, many others are not, there are illegal operators.
“And many of them who are doing the business are not following the rules. The NLRC Act stipulates that 50 per cent of the proceeds of lotteries must go to the public (consumers) while 25 per cent must be put in a Trust Fund to be used by government for good causes like sports, health, education, etc.”
The IG promised the cooperation of the police in ensuring the enforcement of lottery regulations.
Present during the visit were Inspector General of Police, Ogbonnaya Okechukwu Onovo; Deputy Inspector General of Police, Israel Ajao; head of D Department in charge of investigations, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Suleman Fakai; Deputy Inspector General of Police, Udoh Felix Odum; and the Force PRO Emmanuel Ojukwu.
