As the unemployment rate in the country to exacerbate, it has a domino effect on all sectors of the economy.
The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics has put the figure at 13.9%, revealing that the number of unemployment percentage in the labour market has surged by 555,311 persons.
However, to proffer panacea to the unemployment challenge in the country, expert has described lottery as a tool with diverse opportunities to end the scourge.
Enumerating these opportunities, Niyi Adekunle, MD/CEO of Lotgrand, operator of Grandlotto and FirstBet, said that job opportunities in lottery are limitless; adding that the technology aspect of lottery business offers more jobs than one can imagine.
According to him, “The thermal paper used daily in the business is more than 30,000 rolls. These are imported from overseas. Likewise, the points of sales [PoS] terminals are also imported.”
The industry, he said, is wide enough to the extent that it can generate employments for specialists. “The terminals commissioned daily are exposed to wear and tear. These terminals will be out of service someday. They would need repairs. Expertise is required in that area and more jobs can be created as a result”, he said.
Adekunle said that if the lottery industry is managed well, it would contribute to the advancement of the economy to the magnitude that it would be difficult for the country to recede into economic recession again.
He therefore cited Croatia as a country that in 2015 funded 19% of its budget with revenue accrued from lottery. He said that ‘‘the current high patronage noticed in lottery by more Nigerians is not because of the economic recession as it is commonly speculated’’, insisting that the ‘’economic recession is a recent occurrence.”
He listed Morocco, Dubai, China and Singapore and other countries that are frontline lottery nations ‘’are not in economic recession’’. For about four years, he noted, lottery was the major source of funding for Croatia. “Lottery generates huge revenue in Croatia. In Asia, the continent earns billions of dollars from lottery. So it is all about planning and putting in place good policies.”
He explained that with London’s population of 8.6 million people, there are 38 companies running lottery and sports betting. “That is why the 2012 London Olympics Games was solely financed by revenue from lottery”, he revealed.
According to him, playing lottery has become a pastime worldwide, as it has taken a different dimension in China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. These countries churn out volumes in revenue more than the United Kingdom. “China is not in recession. In our contemporary world, no economy has grown as fast as that of China”, he said.
To buttress this, he informed that under the leadership of Seun Anibaba, CEO of Lagos State Lotteries Board, the board has continued to provide support funding for some of the state’s developmental projects using revenue accrued from lottery.
Some of these projects include investment in security gadgets to enhance security in the state, renovation of secondary, primary schools, and hosting of Lagos carnival.
On the policies that guide the game of lottery in the country, Adekunle advised states and federal governments to close ranks and present a common ground regarding policy formulation and the policy must be market conscious and business friendly.