NLA Assists Tanzania to Restructure Lottery Industry

By Yaw Kyei

The National Lotteries Authority (NLA), is supporting the government of Tanzania to develop business models and strategies to restructure the lottery industry in Tanzania.

The authority has completed a three-day training workshop for a delegation from the East African country, as part of the support.

The Business Development Committee of NLA took the delegation through series of presentations and discussions on the history, change management processes, business models and initiatives of the NLA.

Briefing the Tanzanian delegation on the transformational agenda of the authority, the Director General of NLA, Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, said one of the top-notch business models the authority would be introducing within the first quarter of the year was the e-kiosk concept.

The concept, he said, was a private initiative which would be implemented in collaboration with the NLA and at no financial burden on the authority or the government.

"The private sector is responsible for the financial arrangements for the E-kiosk. The E-Kiosk project has gone through all the necessary legal proceedings and arrangements waiting for the full implementation across Ghana and beyond."

"The E-Kiosk would offer a wide range of services such as banking, mobile money, courier services, remittance, payments of water bills, electricity bills, DSTV/television fees, among others," he said.

Mr Osei-Ameyaw indicated that the e-kiosk project would partner state institutions such as NABCO, YEA, Ghana Post, Ghana Revenue Authority, One District One Factory Secretariat, MMDAs and Members of Parliament in its implementation.

The successful implementation of the E-Kiosk Project, he said, would triple the revenue generation of the National Lottery Authority.

He said as part of measures to ensure a uniform regulation and supervision, the NLA took a decision to push for the repeal of the Veterans.

The NLA boss touched on the spate of illegal lottery in the country and indicated that such activities had become a nightmare of the NLA.

He said the authority, with support from the Association of Lotto Marketing Companies, had, on many occasions, caused the arrest and prosecution of the illegal lotto operators, agents and writers.

However, due to resource constraints, political pressure and interferences, there were no appropriate sanctions meted out to the illegal lotto operators, agents and writers, he said.

"The National Lottery Authority has adopted a more innovative and pragmatic approach to address illegal lottery operations in Ghana through registration, validation and granting of licence to Banker to Banker lotto operators, agents and writers who are able to satisfy all the requirements of the National Lottery Authority," he said.

Mr. Osei-Ameyaw said the NLA, since its establishment, had been running on a self-financing business model without government funds.

The Tanzanian delegation, led by the Secretary of Constitutional and Legal Affairs of Tanzania, Mr. Amon Mpanju, expressed gratitude to the NLA for the assistance and support.

Mr. Mpanju said the Tanzanian government would be pleased to replicate and implement the business models and initiatives of the NLA to transform the lottery business in Tanzania.

Read Full Story