Group tasks EFCC, minister to probe alleged graft in lottery commission

GLOBAL Integrity Crusade Network ( GICN) has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) and the Minister of Special Duties & Intergovernmental Affairs, Senator George Akume, not to shield any employee of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission ( NLRC) from investigation and prosecution over allegations of corruption.

Staff members of the agency had embarked on a nationwide strike last month, accusing the director- general of acting arbitrarily.

The Secretary, Association of Civil Servants of Nigeria, NLRC unit, Mrs Anastesia Ijobo, had also urged the EFCC to probe certain suspicious transactions authorised by the commission’s management amounting to over N2billion.

The EFCC had invited some staff of the commission for interrogation, but no charges have been filed.

The non- governmental organisation, in a statement by its director in- charge of Welfare and Logistics, Mr. Akumabi Ojogbane, said no action has been taken on its June 6, 2020 petition addressed to Senator Akume, EFCC and other relevant bodies.

It had alleged in the petition, among others that over N1billion was spent from the commission’s internally generated revenue without appropriation ( as against N75 million appropriated as administrative expenses) in 2019.

“In 2020, over N1billion was spent from the commission’s internally- generated revenue without appropriation,” the group had claimed.