The National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF) expressed its appreciation to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for its intervention by making two frontline lottery operators: Premier Lotto a.k.a Baba Ijebu and KC Gaming, a.k.a Bet9ja, to pay the federal government a total of N1 billion.
The recovered funds are debt arrears owed by both companies as a result of either failure or refusal to remit 20 per cent of their turnover through NLTF to government, as required by statute.
NLTF's board and management recently expressed to the Commission their gratitude.
The letter had been signed by the Fund's executive secretary, Bello Maigari.
And according Maigari, “ We are pleased to say that due to the diligent execution of the on-going strategic engagement between the NLTF, NLRC and the EFCC, recovery of unremitted fees by some lottery operators has been made.
“The board and management of NLTF wish to express our gratitude for your patriotic engagement in ensuring the prompt recovery of government 's due remittances for good causes. In addition, we applaud the EFCC team leading the exercise in rooting out corruption in the sector and restoring safety to lottery and gaming operations for their dogginess and professionalism.
A summary of the payments reveals that Premier Lotto (Baba Ijebu) handed over N833,333,494.58 while KC Gaming (Bet9ja) handed over N166,666,827.92, for a total of N1billion.
Section 24(3) of the National Lottery Act 2005 states that 'the applicant shall pay to the Trust Fund, established pursuant to Section 35 of this Act, within a period not exceeding 90 days after the determination of the outcome of each lottery, an sum of 20% of the lottery's proceeds for the first 5 years of the licence, 25% in the subsequent 5 years and 27.5% thereafter.'
In a petition submitted to the Commission by the Supervisory Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs on 20 January 2020, the Minister, Senator George Akume noted that "since the start-up of Nigeria's lottery business in 2007, only over N9 billion has been transferred to the federal government coffers to date," a development he described as "totally unacceptable to the current administration
Revealing why the ministry had to seek intervention from the EFCC, the minister said, "NLRC 's efforts to recover unpaid loans owed by the operators to the federal government have proven abortive. The ministry was therefore left with no option other than to draw your Commission's attention to assisting in that regard, as this act by the operators is purely an economic sabotage.'
This "economic sabotage" act has now been laid to rest with the operators' account of the N1bn remittances.
They are just doing their job
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