Lottery Union Vows Tough Action on Anti-Labour Operators
Adedayo Adejobi
The National Union of Lottery Agents and Employees (NULAE) has urged for more transparent participation of all stakeholders in the gaming industry in Nigeria, if the federal government is to realise its drive of generating more revenue to fund its yearly budget projections without borrowing, as recently revealed by the Minister of Special Duties, Mr. George Akume.
The Union has therefore resolved to mobilise its members nationwide, to support the National Lottery Regulatory Commission in exposing all illegal operators across the country and ensuring legitimate operators live up to their responsibility to the gaming public in the overall interest of the country.
According to the Spokesman and National Treasurer, David Omaghomi, “As a Union, we decry the fraudulent acts of gaming operators who under-declare revenues generated, number of gaming machines in use, manipulation of game results or outright tax evasion and call on the relevant government agencies to carry out a forensic audit of the revenues generated by Operators in the last 15 years to ascertain the 20 per cent due to the federal government, as enshrined in the Lottery Act. We also wish to urge the federal government to mandate the National Lottery Trust Fund to better utilise such funds for tangible good cause projects across all geo-political zones of the country like roads, education, healthcare, security, environment and sports e.t.c.’’
In his words, ‘‘We hereby urge all stakeholders to support the Lottery Industry Improvement Project (L.I.I.P) to be launched by the Union in the first quarter of 2020, as it is designed to institute a paradigm shift in the minds of Nigerians on the benefits of gaming, stamp out underage betting and improve betting conditions amongst others.’’
‘’Based on facts and verifiable documents before the Union, we wish to commend Western Lotto on its recent acquisition of sole rights franchise on the popular Ghana games, which many operators have been illegally using to short-change the federal government, dupe the gaming public and expose the country to ridicule for years unchecked and challenge any operator who claims to have a contrary position to forward such facts and documents to the Union.
‘’As the Trade Union of the Gaming Industry in Nigeria, we pledge to support any agency of government or operator that is committed to healthy gaming practices and Labour friendly policies this year. Henceforth, we shall be collaborating with our Labour Centre and other Civil Rights Organisations to picket the premises of any operator or agency that have refused to comply with the extant Labour Laws on Unionisation, implementation of the new national minimum wage and deduction of union dues accruable to the Union from source,’’ Omaghomi Said.