| Home | Politics | Human Rights | Water | Economy | Education | Sci & Tech | Culture | Sport |
30 January 2007
The largest lottery prize ever offered in Ethiopia is coming soon. The National Secretariat formed by the Council of Ministers under directive 117/2004, made a deal last month with the National Lottery Administration to offer a two million Birr prize for the lucky number.
“Be a Millionaire in the Millennium,” is the catchphrase of the new lottery to be distributed to the public on the eve of the Millennium, although whether to make the cover price two or five Birr is yet to be decided, according to sources at the Secretariat. A contest to pick the design has been on, with individual artists participating.
The Secretariat anticipates raising close to 20 million Br from these lottery sales, which will be the first of its fundraising programme to celebrate Ethiopia’s unique millennium, with a series of events to be held from September 2007 to September 2008. Over 300,000 people are expected to come to Ethiopia to be apart of these events.
Although the Secretariat is formed under a ministerial committee, chaired by Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, its plan and budget was approved by a high profile assembly of a 134 council members, where Prime Minister Meles Zenawi participated, in December 2006.
According to the Secretariat’s projection, building public parks, monuments, schools and lobbying to convince every Ethiopian to plant two trees will cost anywhere between 180 million to 200 million Br. A substantial amount of this budget is anticipated to be covered from sponsorships the Secretariat is hoping to secure from different companies and organizations, according to Mulugeta Asserate, one of the three deputy directors of the Secretariat and head of communications.
According to reliable sources, the Secretariat is planning to start offering the public tombolla, while it is discussing with officials at the Ministry of Transport and Communications issues on the various images of Ethiopian heritage on prepaid mobile cards; the deal is to be commissioned out of these sales.
By Wudineh Zenebe - Fortune Staff Writer