Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) has constituted the board of the State Pools Betting and Lottery.
According to a statement signed by Mr. Segun Ajiboye the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor “the Chairman of the five-member board is Mr Akinroluyo Olajide Dickson.
Members to also serve on the Board include Akinlosotu Adebowale Blessing, Semilore Favour Tomomewo, Susan Obi Njideka and Chief (Mrs) Dele Fashakin.
Arakunrin Akeredolu congratulates the board members on their appointment.
In a brief reaction, the chairman of the new Board, Mr Akinroluyo thanked the Governor for the confidence reposed in the members.
“We shall set forth immediately and work out modalities to justify that confidence. Ondo State is one where we can use the lottery to activate a whole lot of activities and structures to cause more social development, create job opportunities and make the government closer to the people,” he told www.gongnews.net in the telephone chat.
Akinroluyo lamented the huge revenue loss through gaming activities such as Casino, Lotteries, Lotto, Pools betting and allied matters pledging its readiness to stem such leakages in order to shore-up its internally generated revenue (IGR).
“We shall soon meet as a Board to set up our strategies and get to work immediately. Certainly, we shall meet with stakeholders in the sector. We need to revive and revamp the ailing agency and make it a strong pillar of the revenue source for the state. This will help us generate some social impact compatible with modern lottery activities.”
“This trend where the state government is fragrantly denied its accruable revenue by operators must change. We must all do our jobs such that government, the operators and bettors go home satisfied that no one is shortchanged,” he said.
The Pools Betting and Lottery Board chairman added that “I think it is also proper to realise we will need to re-brand our status. These will be done after our inauguration and meeting as a Board in a few days time. After these initial activities, we shall then deploy, even for public consumption most likely new rules, regulations, rates, taxes, fines for defaulters and other ancillary policies that would enhance our service delivery in line with the mandate of the governor, the state government and the people of Ondo State,” he said.
