03 Jul MOU REACTIVATION

 NLRC, NCC SEEK REACTIVATION OF MOU 

In a bid to strengthen its regulatory functions within the fast-growing lottery/gaming industry in Nigeria, and further generate revenue for the country, the Director-General, National Lottery Regulatory Commission NLRC Lanre Gbajabiamila has called for the review of a four-year Memorandum of Understanding MoU with the Nigerian Communications Com-mission NCC. 

DG, NLRC Lanre Gbajabiamila (C), Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management– NCC Adeleke Adewolu (2nd right), and top Management staff of both Commissions during the NLRC courtesy visit to NCC

Mr. Gbajabiamila who made this call while on a courtesy visit with the NLRC Management team to the NCC headquarters in Abuja, observed that it was time to tackle the emerging issues between telecoms and gaming operators. 

Whilst lauding the efforts of the NCC in discharging its mandate, Mr. Gbajabiamila noted that the country was losing billions due to illegal operations in electronic mechanisms within the lottery/gaming space and pleaded for a joint effort between the two agencies in blocking Internet Protocols (IP) addresses of such foreign operators. 

According to the NLRC Boss, it is essential to have a sharing ratio on gaming-related telecommunications activities to limit Telcos from taking a huge chunk of the revenue to the detriment of the NLRC and operators. The DG expressed surprise at how the Telcos are able to pay winnings which are way above 70% of proceeds. 

Mr. Gbajabiamila requested that the NCC shares with the NLRC its transaction logs of Value-Added Services (VAS) providers involved in gaming activities for effective regulation and monitoring. 

He also said that the NLRC received complaints from operators who claimed to have been charged higher for the One Time Password (OTP) generation code despite being fully registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission CAC. 

DG, NLRC with the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management– NCC Adeleke Adewolu during the meeting

The DG appealed to NCC for collaboration on enforcement to enable NLRC to stop illegal operators from lottery/gaming functions that have not been approved by the NLRC. 

While welcoming the NLRC team, the Executive Vice Chair-man NCC represented by the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Mr. Adeleke Adewolu advised the DG and his team to outline the issues on the ground in official writing to NCC to enable them clearly identify areas of collaboration and support. 

In response to the enumerated problems by the DG NLRC and both agencies agreed to set up a joint committee to articulate and proffer solutions to all issues. 

By Chinyere Odinukwe