The Bill to amend the National Lottery Act, 2005 passed second reading in the Senate. Leading the debate at the plenary session of Thursday, 15 June 2017, sponsor of the Bill, Sen. Obinna Ogba (PDP: Ebonyi) explained that the proposed amendments seek to make provisions for effective operations of lottery in Nigeria.
Sen. Ogba stated that if passed, the Bill would allow for the restructuring of the National Lottery Commission as a veritable source of revenue generation capable of impacting significantly on the nation’s GDP. He informed Members of the Senate that the essence of the debate was to agree that the Bill be referred to a Conference Committee to address the observations raised by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
It would be recalled that the Bill was passed by the National Assembly and forwarded to Prof. Osinbajo who withheld assent, citing the existence of pending legal challenges to the competence of the National Assembly to legislate on the subject matter.
The Conference Committee Members include, the Chairman, Sen. Obinna Ogba, and Sen. Dino Melaye (APC: Kogi), Sen. Duro Faseyi (PDP: Ekiti), Sen. Foster Ogola (PDP: Bayelsa), Sen. Danjuma La’ah (PDP: Kaduna), Sen. Joshua Lidani (PDP: Gombe)
