Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibarhim Lamorde has promised to build a robust relationship with the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, NLRC, in fighting the menace of lottery scam and other unwholesome practices in the lottery sector.
Lamorde gave the assurance on Tuesday, March 17, 2015 while signing a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the NLRC on ways to effectively combat fraud in the lottery sector in Nigeria.
The EFCC boss assured that, the Commission would spare no effort towards cleaning up the industry of cheats and illegal lottery operators. “We will do our best to bring violators of laws to justice”, Lamorde said.
According to him, under the new agreement, “the Commission will make available its operatives with respect to enforcement of the National Lottery Act, in the area of training, investigation and prosecution, so as to have a joint team to clean up the system for the good of the country”.
Lamorde opined that, there was a need to appoint focal persons to ease collaboration between the two agencies.
In his remark, NLRC Director General, Adolphus Joe Ekpe, noted that, the essence of the MoU was to fashion out areas of cooperation and collaboration between EFCC and NLRC with a view to tackling financial crimes in relation to lottery activities.
He expressed concern over the increasing rate of illegal operators of lottery saying, “some people have turned Lottery to gambling, fraud and economic crime platforms. For those of us in Lottery Commission, we have been given several names like chacha and all sorts. We are not deterred. In fact, this is why this collaboration with EFCC becomes imperative”.
According to Ekpe, “lottery business is a tool for job creation, wealth redistribution and national development”.
The NLRC boss thanked EFCC for its commitment to the war against economic and financial crimes in Nigeria and expressed belief that the collaboration between the two agencies would help stamp out illegal lottery operators from the industry.
The ceremony was witnessed by management staff of the EFCC including the Secretary to the Commission, Emmanuel Adegboyega Aremo and Commandant, EFCC Academy, Olowonihi while Director Enforcement & Compliance, Sajo Mohammed; Director Regulation and Monitoring, Prince Jeminiwa Emmanuel were among the team from NLRC.
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He expressed concern over the increasing rate of illegal operators of lottery saying, “some people have turned Lottery to gambling, fraud and economic crime platforms. For those of us in Lottery Commission, we have been given several names like chacha and all sorts. We are not deterred. In fact, this is why this collaboration with EFCC becomes imperative”.