The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is investigating some staff of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) over suspicious transactions.
The affected staff, from the finance and account department of the commission, according to inside sources, were those whose accounts were allegedly used to facilitate the suspicious transactions.
The anti-graft agency is reportedly investigating the “diversion” of about N348 million through the use of the bank accounts of some 20 staff of the agency in 143 transactions, between March and December, 2019.
This is coming after a civil society organization has called for the investigation and suspension of the Director General of NLRC, Mr Lanre Gbajabiamila, over alleged inefficiency and mismanagement.
Action for Justice and Transparency against Corrupt Practices (AJTAC) made this call in a statement by its chairman, Mr Felix Nwankwo, on Wednesday.
It said despite being in existence for over 10 years, the lottery agency generated less than N10 billion for the federal government due to inefficiency of its management.
The civil society said, after Mr Gbajabiamila’s appointment in 2015, he promised to improve the revenue base of the agency. “But over six years after, the situation is degenerating from bad to worse,” Mr Nwankwo said.
Mr Gbajabiamila, younger brother to Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, was director general of the Lagos State Lottery Board, before his appointment as helmsman of NLRC.
The CSO said Gbajabiamila came to NLRC with “enormous conflict of interest” having earlier dragged the federal lottery regulatory agency to court “challenging FG’s jurisdiction to collect statutory remittance due to government.”
The civil society claimed that the DG had “conspired” with some staff of the commission to transfer NLRC funds to some private accounts, which is being investigated by the EFCC.
The civil society is worried that “The commission’s governing board has met on Monday 13 September 2021 without any resolution bearing on these serious allegations against the DG. Their silence speaks volumes that they intend to sweep these allegations under the carpet.”
It therefore urged President Muhammadu and Minister of Special Duties George Akume to save the lottery regulatory agency from “imminent collapse.”
When contacted, the spokesperson of EFCC, Mr Wilson Uwajuren told 21st CENTURY CHRONICLE that he was yet to be briefed on the investigation of the NLRC staff.
The lottery agency’s head of media and public affairs, Mr Magnus Ikechukwu, in a telephone interview with our reporter on Wednesday confirmed that EFCC was indeed investigating some staff of NLRC.
He, however, denied that Mr Gbajabialmila ordered the suspicious transactions. “On the allegation that the DG transferred money to individual accounts, I stand to tell you that is inaccurate and incorrect,” Mr Ikechukwu said.
On the EFCC probe, the NLRC spokesperson said: “It is true and correct that the EFCC is probing several staff of the commission as a result of routine checks of our books.” He added that “I will refrain from making further comments, because like you rightly said some people are under investigation and we should wait for the outcome.”
On the dwindling fortune of the commission under Gbajabiamila, Mr Ikechukwu said: “What I can tell you is that, since Mr. Gbajabiamila became the DG of the NLRC, the revenue generation of the commission has improved drastically.
