LIRS Set To Meet With Pools Agents, Promoters

The Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue, LIRS will next week hold a tripartite meeting with representatives of the Lagos State Pools Agents Association, LASPAA and pools promoters in Lagos.

P.M.NEWS gathered that the meeting, which will hold at the Secretariat, Alausa, became necessary following LASPAA’s to Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola over the crisis in the pools business in the Lagos.

President of the agents association, Major Sammy Ogunyebo (retd.) told P.M.NEWS yesterday that the Board Secretary of the LIRS, Mr. Alli informed him about the meeting which has been scheduled for Tuesday 12 July.

According to the retired Army officer: “Mr. Bisi Alli phoned on Tuesday to inform me about the tripartite meeting which will see in attendance government officials, representatives of the pools agents and the promoters in the state.

“I must confess, the meeting is long overdue. The stakeholders in the business must seat down to discuss how we can join hands to sanitise the business.”

He further disclosed that his members, spread across Lagos State, will be glad that sanity is now in sight.

“I’ll be going to the meeting to discuss a lot of things. More importantly, to defend the proposal we sent to Governor Fashola we are demanding a lot to make the business profitable for us. Our demands remain the same, promoters should hands off betting shops, while agents association should be allowed to control all betting shops in the state. We want everybody to abide with the Lagos State’s edict on pools,” said Sammy.

“Some of the zonal chairmen and secretaries of the association have not been coming to the state executive meeting at Mayflower Hotel, Mushin, Lagos.

“This is very bad for zonal leaders who should lay good example to their followers. They should have a change of heart now.

“I also want to appeal to all debtor zones to pay their debts now. We need money to execute most of the programmes in our hands. Lack of funds is seriously hampering our moves to work. I want the zones to assist me with funds so that what we are pursuing with the government will be achieved very soon,” said the president.