NECA, ULC commend Osinbajo’s refusal to assent to lottery bill

Seek N100 to $1 exchange rate

The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) and United Labour Congress (ULC) yesterday commended Acting President Yemi Osinbajo for declining to sign the National Lottery (Amendment) Bill 2016.

NECA’s Director General, Olusegun Osinowo, said the rejected bill was an “attempt by some concerned parties to ambush the course of justice through amendments of the extant Act, which was an action that undermined fair play and equity.”

He said Osinbajo’s refusal to sign the bill and three others due to pending court cases was justified, because “there is indeed a pending case at the Federal Court of Appeal on this subject matter.”

According to Oshinowo: “The National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) and other parties were aware of this development and were expected, as law-abiding citizens to await the pronouncement of the court.”

He added that it was worrisome that the NLRC resorted to behind the scene tactics of sponsoring amendments to the Act before the determination of the suit.

Osinowo said the Acting President’s rejection of the National Lottery Bill has “displayed government’s belief in fairness and justice and has affirmed its belief in the rights of ordinary Nigerians, which are hallmarks of good governance.”

The ULC President, Joe Ajearo expressed delight at Federal Government’s efforts to protect the naira by taking some positive steps that have raised the value of the currency.

Ajearo urged the government to sustain the sanitisation of the foreign exchange market and ensure that it IS reduced to at least, N100 to one dollar.