Lottery commission harps on transparency of GSM promos

THE National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) said it was enforcing zero tolerance on all sales promotions undertaken by Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators and other companies in the country, saying there was no hiding place for fraud in the promos.Director-General of NLRC, Mr. Peter Igho, said in Lagos recently at the presentation of seven-iX35 sport utility vehicles (SUVs) to winners of the MTN Goodwill Automania that organisations must begin to know that whatever they did there had to be integrity and transparency.'I am glad that MTN has towed that line. As you are well aware, it didn't start here. It started with a draw and my staff was there with the media, because that is where fraud can happen. During the draw you all saw how transparent it was.'The next step was to ensure that those who won got their prizes and that is why we are here today. Everyone will get what he or she won. We are working to bring integrity to lottery business. All over the world lottery has empowered people and Nigeria cannot be an exception. That is why the media must join us in fighting all those illegal and insincere operators who promise big things and don't fulfill them," he said.Igho said that the Commission must drive illegal lottery operators out of Nigeria because lottery must grow Nigeria. 'Lottery must have its full potential as it has done all over the world. We'll not allow any bad eggs to spoil it for us. We've closed down some organisations that exhibit insincerity. When we ask them to come and comply and they refuse we close them down.'Assistant Director, Regulation and Monitoring at NLRC, Mr. Henry Uwadiae earlier while responding to allegations of perceived fraud in the ongoing promos carried out by telecoms operators amid allegations by a student body that mobile operators were ripping Nigerians off.NANS had alleged that there were fraudulent activities in the ongoing promos being advertised by Etisalat and MTN, and called for probe from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).Describing the allegations as untrue and mischievous, Uwadiae said that apart from issuing permit for promo activities in the country, the commission monitors all promo activities and also demanded for the names of winners from the telecoms operators to ensure that all winners got their prizes.
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