Abuja — Over the years, corporate organisations have introduced series of promotional competitions targeted at expanding their sphere of influence and profits. This has been especially true of telecommunications operators.

There are several notable ones by each of the national carriers. A few days back, GSM service provider Etisalat, one of the latest entrants into the lucrative Nigerian market, gave out its $1 million promotion prize to the winner, Kizito Egeonu, a University of Jos medical student. We fear that such payout represent a powerful disincentive to learning and other worthwhile pursuits. Until that award, few promotions are denominated in foreign currency. Such dollarisation in a sovereign country with its own currency smacks of criminal lack of supervision by the authorities and an insult to national pride. Promotions targeted at say providing laboratories, improved internet access, HIV/AIDS, cancer research, would have been by far more appropriate and rewarding, with the society being the main beneficiary.

Promotions thorough lottery such as this one are not totally bad per se. It so happens that in the case of telecommunications service providers, they reflect issues with social and moral implications. For one, it presumes that the firms organising them have met the traditional criteria of adding value to users of its services. It also suggests that they are making huge profits and that they have a robust and acknowledged societal contribution via a deep sense of corporate social responsibility. To be acceptable, such contributions must have direct and practical impacts both on product users and the larger community.

The general opinion of customers of players in the telecommunications sector is that services are generally poor and coverage in most parts of the country are very poor. Secondly, we agree with suggestions that product users would appreciate seasonal reductions in the charges for most of the services rendered than promotions better, without compromising profit for the companies. On the moral level, these promotions tend to subtly destroy the time-tested and often preached virtues of hard work, diligence and scholarship. To crown it all, it confers some legitimacy to gambling, condones indolence and erroneously places the price of success at the doorpost of luck. These indeed are enemies of traditional virtues which society seeks to inculcate, especially in its young.

A few issues therefore become germane if Nigeria is not to be turned into an Eldorado for the game of chance and a haven of gamblers. It would appear that the supervising agencies are not doing their best in policing the promotions. There are several promotions out there which come by various means, rake in millions for the agencies handling the promotion but never give the promised prize. While we commend those who have carried theirs to conclusion, our eyes should not be blind to the ones who virtually rake in profits that they do not merit, but simply cashing in on the foolish get-rich-quick mentality that some of our people harbour.

We believe it is time for the appropriate organs to begin to render public accounts on the qualities that qualify the endorsement of such promotions. This is important so that supervisory agencies are not seen to be hand-in-gloves with firms that seek to exploit their clients. It is equally important to make a clear distinction between supervisory roles and blatant hobnobbing which may not be in the public interest. These are important yardsticks for a society where corruption has made the dividing line indeed very thin. There are several agencies that should not only monitor, but ensure that the groups and companies giving out these mouth-watering prices are alive to their corporate social responsibility to the people they serve and pay correct and appropriate taxes including the statutory five percent stipulated by law to the Consumer Protection Council. We believe that promotions by groups doing business in Nigeria should respect and reflect national mementoes and not deride the symbols of our nationhood.