Throughout history, no institution has achieved any substantial leap without a leadership vision and strategic thinking. This is because no amount of whimsical, unplanned and hurriedly reactionary actions or even inactions can trump an excellent and well articulated plan judiciously executed for the national benefits”- Unanimous.
This is very true about the National Lottery Trust Fund under the leadership of its Executive Secretary, Dr.Bello Maigari. The executive secretary has done everything possible in reforming the interventionist agency and changing its narratives so that it can achieve its mandates. It is, therefore, not surprising to hear many analysts and public commentators say that indeed there is a new dawn at the agency.
The National Lottery Trust Fund is an interventionist agency under the Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs. It was created to help use the funds accruing from the remittances to the federal government through gaming to intervene in areas of needs in the country.
Based on the prevalent knee-jerk approach to developmental interventions of the past in the country by the federal government, the present Minister of Special Duties and intergovernmental Affairs, Honourable Zephaniah Jisalo, and the present executive secretary of the National Lottery Trust Fund, Dr. Bello Maigari, made concerted efforts in reforming the agency to enable it can carry out its mandates as prescribed in the enabling laws creating the agency.
It’s by this that the agency can truly be said to be fit for purpose in implementing its core mandates by touching the lives of all Nigerians positively. The agency is now working to the satisfaction of all Nigerians as there are no longer room for hunches, guess works or mere sloganeering at the agency. What we now see daily are actions bringing succour to the less privileged in society.
Many would ask, what makes the agency to now work more than ever before? The answer is quite simple – the synergy between the supervising minister of the agency, Zephaniah Jisalo, and the management of the agency led by its executive secretary, Bello Maigari. They are in sync and creating the leadership synergy as the needed impetus to make the agency achieve its mandates, especially in the renewed hope administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The present management of the agency communicates their strategies transparently and are very ready to take responsibility for outcomes. The open communications in the agency about the challenges and setbacks is helping it to manage public expectations and building trust in the National Lottery Trust Fund by Nigerians.
No wonder, today the Fund is being regarded as one of the best run interventionist agencies in Nigeria. It is carrying out its duties in an accountable and transparent manner devoid of sectional or political considerations. There is really a radical departure from its past, as the agency now carries out its mandates in pragmatic and systematic approach in order to ensure that all sections and geopolitical zones in the country are treated fairly.
The National Lottery Trust Fund is intervening in every area of need in the country. Areas such as health, sports, education, and culture, etc, have felt the impact of development in all its physicality; interventions we can see and touch to the glory of the management of the agency led by Dr. Bello Maigari.
The successes, so far, recorded by the executive secretary and the National Lottery Trust Fund are attributable to the strategic implementation of the Tinubu administration’s renewed hope agenda as it relates to the agency’s mandates under the pragmatic supervision of the minister who ensures that the agency undergoes a periodic comprehensive performance assessment.
The assessment involves areas covered quarterly, identification of its present challenges, consideration of world class scenarios and the efforts of the management in developing contingency plans to avoid a situation where policies are not well thought out and implemented to improve the citizens’ quality of life in the areas the fund is intervening based on national interests.
The strategies adopted by the National Lottery Trust Fund are propelling it towards being adaptable to changing circumstances, real time feedbacks and evolving challenges. Make no mistake about it, the National Lottery Trust Fund now recognises that while optimism
and hope are essential in taking on interventionist challenges in a nation like Nigeria, strategic actions complemented by realistic assessments based on data and realism are essential in achieving its mandates.
The positive from this is that the agency is, once again, working to the general expectations of the citizens because of its adoptions of a balanced and systematic approach in addressing challenges and opportunities as it intervenes in the lives and development of all Nigerians.
Musa Wada,
Abuja
