The performance of the Director General of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Mr. Lanre Gbajabiamila, has been satisfactory to the Board and the shareholders, his legal advisor, Mr. Frank Ike Chude, has said.
Chude stated this in a response to a petition sent to the Gbajabiamila and the media by an Abuja-based group, Global Integrity Crusade Network, accusing him of malfeasances in the running of the commission.
Chude argued that Gbajabiamila has advanced the 15- year-old organisation, performing excellently to the satisfaction of the Governing Board and other stakeholders of the commission, especially in management and generation of revenue for the government.
According to him, in less than three years of leadership, Gbajabiamila has efficiently turned around the fortunes of the commission and earned billions of Naira into the coffers of government in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the lottery commission which he has raised, astronomically by over 400 per cent.
Global Integrity Crusade Network had accused the Gbajabiamila of corruption, financial misappropriation, abuse of office, contract splitting and granting of unwarranted waiters to operators among other allegations.
But Chude debunked all the allegations contained in the petition describing them as “fictitious, unfounded, malicious and gravely defamatory.”
Chude said: “our client has been running the commission diligently, effectively, efficiently, honestly and in total compliance with the statutes of the establishment and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He has, in profound measures added verifiable values to the commission.
“The National Lottery Regulatory Commission under the leadership of our client has been performing excellently to the satisfaction of the Board and its other stakeholders. The profundity, creativity and zeal with which our client leads the commission have resulted in astronomical increase in the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the commission.
“For instance, the internally generated revenue of the commission which had been hovering between 200M and 400M Naira since its establishment in 2005 shot up beyond One Billion in less than 12 months after his assumption of office and since then the revenue continues to increase, steadily.
Chude explained further that the Internally Generated Revue of the commission was 275,923,119.50 in 2016 prior to the assumption of office of Gbajabiamila in 2017 adding that, with the strategic and effective management of the DG and the support of the Governing Board, Management and the entire members of staff of the commission, the IGR has been growing very fast.
“From 275,923,119.51, which he met on arrival, the IGR rose to 512,365,635 in less than three months of operation in 2017. In 2018, it shot up to 1,164,714,228 in 2018 and increased to 1,239,072,706.52 in 2019.
And prior to his engagement in the lottery commission, the legal advisor disclosed that Gbajabiamila as the pioneer Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Lottery Board “ had created enviable, yet to be matched records in lottery business in Nigeria with his stellar performance at the Lagos State Lottery Board where he raised lottery revenue from almost zero to N8 billion”.
