The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has said that the House was ready to empower the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) through enabling legislation to empower it to generate more revenue.
Gbajabiamila, who played host to the management team of the commission led by the chairman of its board, Alhaji Ibikunle Fatai, said the House is willing to come up with relevant laws that would make Nigeria generate more revenue to fund her annual budgets.
The Speaker said: “Yours is a very important agency in terms of revenue generation. As you know, this time, revenue generation is key for us to be able to finance our budget the way we want to finance it. So, yours is a very important agency in terms of government expenditure.
Responding to a request by the chairman of the NLRC board for the House to amend the law setting up the agency for more efficiency, Gbajabiamila said though the House would be ready to do that, there was need to know what obtains at present.
“On the amendment of the enabling law, of course, law is very dynamic. Anytime there’s a need to amend the law to optimise and maximise the efficiency and your revenue profile, we are going to be very willing and ready to do that. But we need to know what the problems are, where you need to plug the holes
“On the Central Monitoring System, I know you have a lot of court cases right now. From what I have come to understand as the issue of Central Monitoring System, I think those things were left behind by the past administration.
“There’s also the nagging issue of state versus federal on who has the constitutional power to give permits and licenses to collect revenue.
“In spite of these challenges you were bedevilled with, I want to commend you, because you have been able to raise your revenue to a very considerable extent.
“Yes, considerable, but we are not there yet because we can go higher. Whatever is going to be required like the Central Monitoring System, to help you get to that point where yours, a stand-alone agency that generates a good percentage of our revenue, then we will definitely do that.
“This is because right now, without that, there are so many leakages. So many players out there, who under-report to you what they are generating. So we have to do this in accordance with international best practices. That is why as a House, we have to put those laws in place,” the Speaker said.
The Speaker also called on both the board and the management of the agency to work together for harmony so that the commission could generate more funds.
Earlier, the chairman of the commission’s board, Alhaji Fatai, said they were in the Speaker’s office to congratulate him on his emergence as the Number 4 Citizen as well as table their plight.
“The commission is a revenue-generating agency, and we’ve been doing our best to do that. But the Act that set up the commission has deficiencies, and we have done some amendments, which we will forward to the Speaker.
“There’s the issue of a central monitoring system. We don’t have enabling law for us to prosecute those that don’t pay. We’re just trying to make sure that we generate revenue. We need an enabling law that will empower us.
“We appeal to the House to give the amendments accelerated passage. We want to establish the Nigerian National Game, that’s part of our proposal. That will enhance our revenue-generating base,” he said. Nigeria News
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
