Director-General of the National Lottery Authority, Mr. Samuel Awuku, has described their diamond Jubilee anniversary of the Authority as 60 years of making its patrons millionaires.
According to him, the 60 years of the existence of the NLA has been years of generating revenue for national development, touching lives, communities and institutions and therefore worth celebrating.
Addressing the launch of the NLA’s 60th Anniversary celebration in Accra Mr. Awuku noted that while the NLA has had its fair share of challenges in its 60-year journey, the reforms, policies and decisions taken by successive boards and director-generals have helped shaped the premier organization into what it is today.
He said, “So to all the Boards, Director-Generals, Directors, Management and Staff, of this great institution, both past, and present who have worked tirelessly to keep the NLA afloat, I say Thank You and Good Job to you. Ayekoo!”
Series of activities, he said, have been planned over the next three months to celebrate the Authority with October dedicated to NLA’s cherished customers, the recognized most valued assets of the Authority.
He stated the celebration will be climaxed with a grand durbar in December to be held concurrently with a conference on responsible gaming as the NLA host the African Lotteries Association (ALA).
Recounting how lottery was introduced in Ghana, Mr. Sammy Awuku indicated that then Finance Minister Mr. Komla Gbedemah stumbled on it while on an official visit to Malta in the Southern part of Europe and informed the then Prime Minister, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Dr. Nkrumah sent envoys to Malta to understudy the lottery and subsequently requested the Maltese government to help Ghana set up its own lottery body.
In granting that request, the Maltese government seconded Mr. William Francis Brennan, an Officer of the Malta Public Lotteries Department to assist Ghana set up the Department of National Lotteries (DNL). Mr. Brennan was thus the Department’s first Director-General.
“Mr. Chairman, from the very first draw held by the Department, which had 5,000.00 pounds as the prize money, through the years of operating manually, transitioning from the Department into an Authority, with its attendant evolution into an automated system 44 years later, NLA can confidently boast of exemplifying its mandate to make all stakeholders ultimate winners,” he said.
Delivering a solidarity message, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godred Yaw Dame, noted that 60 years of existence is no mean feat and indicated if NLA were a natural person, per the laws of Ghana, the NLA would be retiring from active service.
According to him, the idea of lottery is a celebration of the partnership between NLA and its patrons in an effort to give each and every member of the staking public an exceptional lifetime opportunity.
He said, “In fact, NLA gives you and I the opportunity to dream about what we might do if we won the lottery. Much of the success and popularity of the national lottery can be attributed to the combination of a chance to win and dream and undoubtedly, this has been a huge success with the general populace.”
Mr. Dame congratulated the Authority and wished it success in all future endeavour and pledged his ministry’s support for the NLA to thrive for another 60 years to come.
