The federal government is targeting to generate monthly revenue of N1 billion from the proposed National Game, designed to compete with the popular Ghana Game, which has over the years proven to be an economic growth catalyst.
Director-General of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC), Lanre Gbajabiamila, who disclosed this Wednesday while addressing journalists at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, saying National Game was a pragmatic approach to boosting the country’s revenue in the face of dwindling oil prices.
Gbajabiamila said the commission was working with relevant stakeholders to maximise the full revenue potential of the Nigerian lottery industry, observing that the lottery industry has not supported the country’s economic growth drive as much as it should because the system has been porous over the years.
The DG said the stakeholders’ meeting was scheduled at the instance of Senator George Akume, Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs, to galvanise support for the smooth implementation of the Lottery Central Monitoring System.
He said the unified system would enable the government to monitor the activities of lottery operators and also collect appropriate revenue accruing from lottery business. According to him, Nigeria has more population than Ghana and could take advantage of its number to build the economy through lottery.
“We are looking at a billion naira monthly revenue when we have everybody hooked up to the Central Monitoring System, where we will be seeing transactions made online, real time, anywhere in Nigeria.
“The national game is a game that we are trying to roll out. It would be made by Nigerians, and for Nigerians, in contrast to what we have in Ghana. Our operators in Nigeria also use the Ghana games. We want to replicate what the Ghanaians are doing with the Ghana game. We have 200 million Nigerians; that will enhance the revenue coming into the Nigerian lottery market”, Gbajabiamila said.
