Finance Ministry defends N43m budget for cleaning, fumigation D AVO A VEYEMI
UOWing public criticisms on the proposed bud~et ror the ministry In all3 as regards huge allocotlotl!l to per sonne!. o\"t'rheads. cleaning and fumigation. travt>ls and train· Ing. tht> Federal Ministry or F1 nance has co~ out 10 derend the provisions. saying they are modest and justifiable Reacting to publk comments on the proposed budget resterda~ Senior Special Assistant to the CoonHnating Mlnlster ror Ihe Economy and Minister or Fi~. Mr Paul Nwabulkwu. said the Ilropo5ed N4J.38I.673 mUilon annual bu~ for clean ln8 and fumlg':Ulng the premls· Mof the ministry was certainly within lhe parameters 0( industry standards
ffi
III' explained that the minis try 1<; facing serious structural and environment d13Uenf,lt'S which hm"t' made the services very necessat): ~ponding to public com ments on the aUocation to the ministry. Nwabulkwu pointed out that total budget proposal ror the Federal Ministry of 1"1 nance Is N5,599.576.IBO. which ~pre;en15 0_11 per cenl g the enUre budgel esUmates. AttOrrling 10 him. budget for lhe mlnlstry together with Its agencies Is NI4.759.952.111. whieh comes to 0,30 per cent of the tOlal provision He said. "The provisions made for personnel. O\"t'rheads. cleaning and fumigation. siulng aUowances and travels. training and soon are modest andjustlfi able" Justifying these. Nwabulkwu
maintained that the ministry also pays for a lot of studies and il1\"M"li~ations done ror other parts of go\"t'rnmenl in various areas 0( economic reform. Including pensions. public service reforms. hous ing and mortgage among oth· Aooording to him. the min istry also hosts experts rrom wlthln and outside the coun try In technical sessions and ~p in line with Its man date. He mentioned agencies belng manAged by the mlnJ.s. try to Include Debt Management Office. Budget Offia! 0( the Federation. Office of the Accowltant-General or the Federation, Investment and Secwitles Tribunal and the National Insurance Commis sloo_
FG approves N34 bn for payment of contributory pensions -PENCOM
T
he
F~enU
GmoernOlent
has approom!an addition at NJ4 billion ror Ule pa,)"
lnen! of contributory pension. aay!I Mr Muhammad Ahmad, Dtredor- GeM'rai. National Pen slons Commlsskln (PENCOM). Ahmad said lh1s at the 4th Conference ror Uirectors of
Pension Qperaton organised by PENCOM with Ute theme "UuUdin8 a mo~ Efficient and Sustainable ~lon IndustrY in Nigeria. "In ~pect of those wlder the H
contributory pension scbeme. recently the Federal Oo\'ern-
ment 811Pf'O\'el:l addItional fund Lng or O\-"er N34 billIon for those who have not come fOl"'A'ard lnl lialIy to flIe wir claIrm" "When they came forv.-anI. Fe had 10 look ror money and virtually all of thern have ~
Ina paid because f\Uld! have being transferred to f(M;;pecthll ~nslon
Fund Administrators
(PFAs). "And those that ha\-e rompl(!f. ed the necessary documcntaUon are being paid and thost that have not done that are in the proces... of dolng Ulat... he saJd. He said though the contributory pension ac::heme was in Ita eighth year. the industry was
o;UU CXPCrlenctna !Om" chal-
lenges because a Iarxe nwnber 0( small companies had yet to join the scheme. 'I11e [)'G saId that bl order to overcome lhCR challenges, PENCOM had appointed !Ome 170 c:onsultants.largely lawyers and accoWltan~ who have. in the last three months. been ITI(IVLng round dlJTerent parts of the
country to el15tU'e compliance.
Aviation director-generals to discuss airline financing in Abuja OLUSEGUN
KOI Kt
eatht'rtng &A tiM! lalest de\-"lop. menlS and ~ In the areas
g safetx sccurlty, air transpor ight dbwtor·gcnerals in the elvU aviallon sector are set to meet In AbtOa on Th~ and ,,"rlday this week to dl9cusI challenges fuc. In~ the sector In the &.lobe. The group popularly known as 1).8 consists or Nilleria. Ban· g1adesh, Egypt. lran. indonesia. MaIa)-'Sla. Pak1!tan and 1'urkell The group, In one of Its re cent meetingS in Jarlutrta.11\d(). nesta in 201I.had Identified air· Une financing and operations as one or thE- n,*>r challenges racing lht> a\'iatJon sector In tht> giaoo and aakllt is ready to tackle the ls.."'Ue headlong. Among other 5sUes eXpeCted to be dl~ at the h\1H1ay
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tAl: M~ DIrector 8fId CtIIet Executlw omc.., Lat. . . c.mw.t WAPCO N~ Pk. loll,. Joe HuMan: PrHkMnt, .. ~ Std o\uodriort (MSAI. EnP- 0Iuf1lml Kupola4I 8fId HeN. Humw. AuoumI M~ Mr. llrIV rop. OIogunoye. ctunng 1M Company'. 2012 M~' Dey SemInw In LI9M.,.......,
Institute seeks capital market funding to boost agric sector Uoo
ON YEKA WITH A GENCY R EPORT
he immedlatt> past Presl dent of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS). Mr Mike Itegboje on Tuesday. advocated ror capital markt>1 rundlng to grow the ag riculturaJ 5e("tor Itegboje told the Nt>ws Agen cy of Nigeria (NAN) In Lagos thai Ihot the sector 'A'ould only experience sign incant growth through capital market fund
T Ing
He called on the agricultural banks to SOUI"C'e for long term funds from the capital mat1l.et Instead of del)('ndln~ on runds from Ihe Fedt>ral Govt>rnment -The agrie bank must not depend on go\·ernment for funding. agric bank must raise long tll!!rm runds from the capt tal market and thai Is the way
to go. And that way we can help development "Go\'ernment has gh'en them some take off funm thai will only last II short whUe and once that money finishes until gov ernment brings agaln. whereas with thi.! funding they can set up a structure that help them to access the market on an anllual basis. capital market "'They can raise N200. NJOO bUlion or NlOO bUlion as the case may be annually. so they have sustainable funding "Farmers and all th~ In· terested In agrlc business can a~ such fund and because it is long term In nature and interesls are lo\~..er the fanners can pay lower interest Instead of paying commercial rates" Itegboje. who Is also the Chief Ext'Cuth'e OffIcer or The Kin,,'s Ltd. a stock broklng firm. noted that the capital markel was available for bor
rowers of such runds 10 exit [rom.
"Nigeria needs agro-ba5ed Industries that wUl 58\'1' the country rrom spoUage as a result of over surplus and lack of storage racUlties "Companies should be en couraged to go into storage tuld processing and It is only If lht>y have access to long term funds that they can do thaL Because they know they are going to ' Invest on (0 lon8term and the funding wU! require long pf! rlod ror tht>m to I"t'COUp thelr Investment -rherdore. If )·ou have that access It become! easier and the capital market is available ror borrow"t'rs of such funds to exit from .. I Itegboje said thai farming had to be large scale for It to be I meaningful and ror It to be de velopmental and impact on the population
wllon and training. Others are aircraft maInteoance. airport infrastructure and lnvstrneniA 1be Dirl'dor·General of Ul(' Nlaertan Ctvil Aviation Au thortty (NCAA). Dr Harold Demuren, In a staternenl made avaUable to journailsU: stated that the merling is also expect· ed to Ident1fy potentials, oppor tunitles, challenges and threats of D-8 in clvU aviation coopers tlon and collaboration. adding that It would u raclUtate Interactions and netwot1l.lng amony etvll aviation stakeholders includina lJ()\'t'rnmenV regulators. service providers. In..~ort and flnancial instltu lions like banluJand othl'!"S.
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Agricultural cooperatives critical to fight hunger -FAO STANlEY IHEOIGBO
F:
AgrIcult.... Organha.
lion (FAO) has reiterated Its support to agricultural cooperati..-es, as It is already enriching mUllon! or ..maIl-scalt> rarmers and making ,realer contribution agalnst tJO\'el"ty: Acconling to a stat.ement made .vailabJe to National Mir· ror DtrectorGenerai or FAO, Or. ~ Graziano da SU...a said that the need to ",-ork for the total eradIcation of hunger through tbe agricultural cooperath"t'S
cannot ~ O\·er~mphasized. He e.n,Jolned gO\wru:nents. elvU socletJ and academia to live their support to the develop. lIIenl of the schenle as It plays a major rolt> to Oght against poverty in many countries, in South Ammca, Africa and Asia. Speaklng yeste.rday at the World Food Day with theme
"Agricultural coopen.th"\lS key to r~tnc the 'AVrid~ which c0incided ...Ith the International Year or ('.oopenth-es Grnlano da SUva said the fl&ht against hUfq!er was gIwon new lmpetu8 last week wllb the release of fig. ures showing that. despite there are 132 mllUoo f""~r hUllKr)' people In lbll!! lI\,1)rid c::ompared to 20 years ago; there are sUU nearly 870 mllllon peoplil!! who go wllJlout enou&h rood ~'t'JY day. Crnzlano da SUva noted that cooperatives lul\-~ rem.al.ned a major way to 1m amall-scale rarnters out ~ po\'ft1)' and hun·
..r. "Agricultural cooperatives can help smallholders ovm::ome these constraints. and It plays a cruclal rolt> in generating em· ployment, reducing povertX and improving food securlf$ alJIo contributing to the cross domesUc product in many countries." hestatec1