sports
The government’s review of the National Sports Policy, intended to define our direction in sports after close and serious consultation with relevant stakeholders, has been instrumental in finding innovative means of funding Sports development in the country. This seems to have been possible mainly because of the government’s awareness that sports is a mass-participation recreational activity that could be used to promote good health and a general sense of well-being, as well as the fact that sports is a professional enterprise that is anchored on excellence and could provide employment for millions of Nigerian young men and women. The need to set up major sports infrastructure and ensuring their maintenance has also been a factor in the government’s review of National Sports Policy.
This is where the relevance of the National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF) comes in. The NLTF plays a key role in the collaboration between the federal government and the states in funding sports development as much as it does in supporting several other initiatives from several sports bodies and organisations. With the NLTF, funding sporting development will undoubtedly be more effective as it would provide access to much needed financial support.
The NLTF’s mandate as a remittance receiving entity whose primary source of fund is lottery is well stated and its goal to finance social projects clearly expresses its focus. The National Lottery Act 2005 requires that for any lottery game or promotional lottery, 50 per cent of the proceeds should go for prizes while 20% is to be remitted to NLTF. The 20% is to be used for administration of ‘Good Cause Projects’ that directly affect the lives of the citizens. The ‘Good Cause’ fund is money that is removed from lottery proceeds and put into l government coffers and used for execution of social projects.