The presidency has faulted the claim of non-payment by some alleged winners of the centenary lottery inaugurated by the Federal Government to commemorate Nigeria’s 100 years of nationhood.
It said the government and the organiser of the lottery, SET Plc, had been professional in the management of the exercise, adding that no winner was denied payment of their entitlement.
It said the government and the organiser of the lottery, SET Plc, had been professional in the management of the exercise, adding that no winner was denied payment of their entitlement.
Chat212 had reported on Friday November 28, 2014 that some Nigerians, who claimed to have won various prizes in the centenary lottery promo, alleged non-payment of their entitlements.
However, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which supervised the centenary committee that inaugurated the lottery, said the exercise was done in a transparent manner.
The Special Assistant to the SGF on Media, Mr. Sam Obasi, said, “The centenary committee, which is not a lottery organisation and does not have any expertise in organising lotteries, engaged the services of one of the best lottery companies in the country, SET Plc, to run the promo professionally on its behalf.
“The company organised the lottery professionally, selected the winners according to the rules and paid prizes to those who won. No winner, to the best of our knowledge, was denied payment of his/her entitlement. If anybody claims to have won a prize in the lottery and was not paid, he/she should take his/her complaints to the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, which has the mandate to investigate and mete out adequate sanctions according to the lottery act.”
Our correspondent was also able to get the contacts of some Nigerians who won prizes and were paid their entitlements by the organisers.
One of them, Boniface Nwigwe, claimed to have won N5m. He said he was contacted and paid his prize money.
He added, “My daughter also won a laptop.”
Another winner, David Uju, a resident of Port Harcourt, said he won a Hyundai Accent, adding that his wife won a cash prize.
A Hyundai IX35 winner, Lawal Abdulhakim, was suspicious when our correspondent asked for photographs of the vehicle.
“Why do you want the photograph? I have won the car and nobody can take it from me. Even if I want to sell it, I won’t sell it to you”, he said.
But another Hyundai IX35 winner, John Ogbonnaya, provided our correspondent with the photographs of the vehicle he won.
“My friend won a Hyundai Accent during the first phase of the promo. That motivated me to participate because he told me that there were other prizes to be won. I started playing and on June 14, I was called that my number had won a car. I didn’t believe it until the car was delivered to me.”
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