Pension:
l Cel on
automobile 'rHE
automotive indusby
1 hasthecapadlytoemploy over 100,000 p:!'Ople, the Chairman, Aulornobile and Allied TRide Grwp of the lagos Chamber of Commerce and IndustJy, t>1r. 0Iu TJkoIo. has said. I He., hOl.~ lamented that the exi!ting bulo assembly
PJooudng
plants were only about one ~ ccml of their
installed capadfy. likolo seid in
1'1
stalement
~=:Iri~~~~~
in lagos 10 ad~ress the Issue: ol~ proliems mili tating against d~ ~Ioprnent of the aulD lndus!iy. He gave the theme of
and
'FG transferred N96.7bn to PFAs in 2010 '
Nlke POlloola ~E
Federal Government 1 MS transferred N96.Tlbn to the Retirement Savifl9!l Account of its employees in 49 mi nistries. depa!tments and agencies.
N96.77bn to Rerir~ment Savings Accounts domic~ed \vilh the various Per1$lOn r"\lnd
brought the total number of states that had enacted IlIws lor lhe implementation of
AdminisltaloB. In addil!on, lhe department recer.red and updated the $Iaff nominal rolls of 49 MOAs. which IIJWE'
CPS to 1 6. ~
The Director·Geneml. NalionalPmsionCommis5ion.
lIsed for the remil!arn of pension contributions of their
Mr. Muhammed Ahmad~ said thai the FGN Conb'ibulion Department whldl miJde the mmUUma:. had the re5pOnsibihty 10 compute and Temil U-.epern;ioI'lconlribuUons in tn!a5Ury-funded MDAs. Ahmad, in F\:nCom's 2010 fiFlNrial report. said. "The departmml remitted
He also SiJid that only 16 51ates had enacted Jav.'S 10 embtaee the Contributory f\msion Schenw:. Ahmad YIld, ~ Dur;ng the 2010 rltlanci&l period. I\vo additional stales. Osun and lrno. enacted tneil laws on
empk~iees. ~
CPS \Yithin this period. which
According 10 him, Niger Stale <md Og\Jn Local GovI:!ommenl Pension Bureaux commenced funding of their Re1iremen l Benefit Redemption Bond Accounts \vith balancn 01 N1.l27bn lind Nl.4Jbn. respectively in
the perm under review. As part of its Interaction with sI.!Ite ~ments, he said that the maMgenlCml of PenCom visited Lagos and Coss Riwr states wllhin Ihe year lind held technical
sessions Mlh key offICials. PenCom. he lidded. offered guidance on identified implemen tation issues dunnS the session5. He also said that Trustfund PFA was gran ted a no objection to conduct a follow up levalid<1\ion exercise for elristing pensioners under the Nige:ri<tn Social InsuTMa! Trust Fund Scheme. who missed the earlier exercise ronducted in September/
Od:ober.2OO9. Trustfund PFA, he added.
was also requested to conduct the follow up exercise for II more extended period of 12
~.".--..,..~
the .seminar \c\knlg place on Wed!le!oMy as ""Generating II roOO map 1m revttiTIsalion of autotnotivJ industry in Nigma."
Dhas
conduded establish
a security trusl. fund to $treng\hen lI:ge'I"Des in the slate for optimal -:lperation.
The Pl'esidt'nl of Asaba Chamber 01 CommE'm!', Industry, Mnes and Agricultul'l!,Chief ~ Udeme, said this on Sunday in !\saba. in an interview \''';111 the News Agency of Nigeri'l. He SlIid the slate government ~ approved the e5tablishrTlefll of the fund, 10 be jolnlly fmanced by govemml?T1 t M·I the private ""~. Udeme adc'ed thai the
!'o l udiaga AUt!, Ca la b a r
T HE Crou
• L·R: Assodole Prine/pol, Troding. A8SA CopiWl. South A/ricnn, Mr. Byron Woods; Deputy General Manager. Head, IT alld Operations. Centrol Securities Clecring System limIted. Mr. J oe Mkiliuwa; ChIef of SlofffHeud 0/ Corpora:te DIvisIon. Nigeria,. Stock £"<Chonge; Mr. B% Adeeko: and Ass-islant General Manager; Training. NSE. Mr, Adolphus Ekpe. during Nelli Go/d Exchange Traded Fund tmlnlng programme, in Logos .. on Monday. Photo: Segun Bole-are.
Subsidy on fertiliser, a fraud -Sanusi
was for
resoum
Credi ble d ata needed
THE
United Nations Resident C'XlIdinalor for Nigeria, Mr, ['oouda Toure, has stressed :he need lor Nigeria 10 ~erlIle credible data. and E"vidence-based ~ decisions 10 w~ wilh il5 increasing dlM!lopment
"""".
The Cocm:Iinalor said this in an addrt!SS f,e dl1'livered at the 2011 UN C'ay celebration, in AbuJa. on fJ"onday. He said the UN sysIem had
given trenwr dous support to Ihl1' Nalional Burl1'lIU of Statistics "\~Ih equipment and back up links, technitilf capadlyand fiMndal.support in data genE"ratJon through such projecls -u compulailon 01 state hu~n development Indicators. TotHe said, M As we embark on the rebrmulation o f our su~t '0 Nigeria "Yilh Ule ned I Un ited NaUOm Develupmen t Assistance Framework. fundamental asped win be to address inequity in th~ counh1/ as the
River South Forum has appellied to the Federal Government to provide the N I2bn Trade Activation Fund proposed for the Tinapa Free TTClde Zone The forum also observed with dl5may the lingering controversy over the award of the contract for the dredging of the Callibar channel. and called on Ihe Federal Government to resolve its d ifferences lind conclude Ihe awa rd processes to a competent contractor The forum mel on Sunday in ClIlabar, Cross River Stale to I:Ippraise the political, economic and SOCial developments and evenls in Nigeria in general and CroH River Stale in particular. In a communiqut! iS5ued, the forum noted \Yit h great concern the complete Consu l!a'r..~
~
Invotved to pool 10 dcvelop lind e:tpand the OJT!falions of all sl!t:tllily lIgeI'ICiE\ in the stale. He noted that adequate !'eOJritY mecnare:s would lIltrad InvesloB 10 the stale. the
UlQ05 Slate has been redeeming retirement bonds has been remarkable and of steady Increase since inception " He saKllhe state slatted by redeeming N412.8m 10 lOS retirees. followed by N887 .301 ta the secood bakh of 217 III which
Forum seeks N12bn lund lo r TINAPA
th,,'
essence ol the fund
2007. Hussain said. lhe bend
liller. he added, m . l%n was paid to the Ihird batch of retirees, ....... ile N2.21:m ""-as paid 10 471 retirees in the fourlh biltch under the CPS. Ih\1s. bringing Ihe total redeemed bond to NS 78bn, paid to I, 12 1Ietllee5.
/rust 10
PertslOn Commimn. Mr, Adl1'lrunll1' Hussain. told our correspondent that the state had been consistent with Ihe implementation of the lagos State F\!nsioo Reforms Act
retirees.
Securi ty fund 1 ElTA SllIle Government lIm!.nQe11Ilml5
months at its erght regional offlces in Lagos, ibadal!, Benin. Abuja. Axt HarcOlul, Maiduguri and Kane. so as to ensure thai adequale lime \vM given to It!VaIidale all pensiOller! under the scheme Also. the DirectorGeneral. Lagos Stale
John A m e h . Abu)i!
HE Governor Ihe TCentral of Nigeria. Lamido Sanusi. said on 01
Bank
Mr.
Monday thai lhere WM no subsidy on lefIil~ in the country, conlrilry to Ihe claim of ~Ior\, authorities in the agru:ultu"'l sector
He tokl the House of Rl!pIt':5erltatil."1!5 Committee on Agricu lt ure in Abuja Inal famlefS were made to beheve that they "U!Te buying !iUbsidl5ed fertiliser when it was indeed II froud. Besides the alleged deceit. Ihe CI3N governor said 89 per cent ol the prOOuct was delivered to people. wno were not farme~. tei!ving real farmers with only 11 pet cent Accorcitng 10 him, many 01 the bags making up the I I per cent do not weign up to SOkg. aclding that they are sometimes fined ",i th sand. The CBN governor had .....ooe 1I presentation 10 the committee on how
governmenl oould develop the sedor by funding it.
He said Ihal one way of doing this was to fiK commodities values so lha t banks could find the sedor altnrdive 10 invesl in il Mil is diffICUlt to lix lhe ~ Set.n!lary-Gel\erlll said ' there a m Ix- no sustainable fi nancial wlue d rllin until the devefopmenl without n.alien can fIX Ihe commodity ~uili'llr\e ~eIopment." __ .,::a1ue chain". he loki the
committee, which is headed by Mt Mohammed Monguno. Sanusl put the nel importation of agricu ltural products into the country annually 211 N63(bn. He. howeveT. noted lhat adequate funding. with Nigeria's rurrenl output of NI4.851n could jump IJy 160 per cenl 10 N34tn in 2030. Sanusi added. , his gtowlh polential comes from the poIenliai to inaease yields to 80 to 100 per cenl of benchmark countries:
increase acreage by 14m hectates newagricu ltural land. appro:dmately 38 per cent 01 Nigeria's unused arable land 01 36 9m hectares: iVld shill. 20 per of produdiOlllo higher
value crops." Sanusi cited poor funding
of ~lIrch i!nd dl;!V('lopment, lade of inlJit$tructure. lack 01 local stOI<lQE! and nrocesslog. drreals from pests and climate change lIS some of the challenges facing the sector He recalled thai in the late 1960s when the counhy
paid adequate attention 10 Ihe sedQt'. it ted in rlloducts such as cocoa. groundnuts. ground nul oil and palm oil. Sanusi said, "In the 1960s. Nigeria had over 60 per cent of global palm oil exports. 30 per cent of global groundnu t exporls. zo.3O per cellt 01 global groundnut oil eKjXlris and IS per cen t of g\obaI cocoa elCpOrts. ~ ~By 2(0), NigeT0 global shlIre of exports of each of lhese oops was five pet cenl ot less."
NERC, US experts deliberate on consumer fwtd framework Sunday OJeme. Abuja
T
HE Nin<>run ':0-'- '
Electricih' Y,
Regulalory Commission lind the United Stalesbased Michigan Public Service Commission 00 Monday began the process of ~ning a fTClmewolk tnat wou1d bring about judicious implemen tation 01
\\'lIS
lryrng 10 develop a 00 how to assist
frame\~rk
the pooT people to have access to electricily when Ihe tariff lisa. He said, 1'he consumer fund wiD come from r.ues pclid by higher consumers, Federal Governmenl sul7.iidy is part of thill fund. We i!re planning 10 sel up 1I framework lor it. The
~~~=~.to :a;':~n=:~
The deliberation was palt of the meeting between Ihe I\vo bOOies during a meetmg
are .supposed 10 receive a bID
lhe United Stales Agency fot
of by the fund ," He ooIed. 'We dorll know who is who. We hewe no idenliflCC1Don Even the 10 card tha t we have is not too widespread d he houses
of NSOO. you will receive may
~::llltc;:~ :ur:oo~~:~~n~ [ntl1'r.lational Development.
Speaking on the sidelines during the meeting, the Chairman, NERC. Dr. Sam Amadi, said the comm~
~_I _.
_
~= =.~w:I:~~ ~~'~:: :~t~~~~~
negative impact on lis We also have people operating economy and Cillted on in an informal economy_ Ihe Federlll Government to lberr SlIIar'y officially oould undertllke reconslruction of be N50.(O) but at the end of all the dilapidaled federal lhe month, their gross is over roads in the stale N<100.(X)(J. So how do . you The commun ique ",:.,5 identify these people? And signed by Hon PlItrick secondly. how do WI" ensure Ene.Okon, chairmaon that the fund is judidously Communlquecommillee, MT. administered. so Ihat iI John Omori. Eyo Okpo-Ene. doesn' , bel:ome inefficien t or Dr. among Ani Oll1ong. Odo a source of corruption to the Ekeng and Mrs Ma, garel Omang.Ntui. seClt'lary, wmmissiOll? These are some of Ine things we have to clarify It. nowever, commended beczruse you dOll't !itllTt this lhe Federal Government lor thing except you Mve a real Ihe siting of the Kwa Falls framework tMI can be used: HydTo-E1ectnfication and The chairman il1soS<lid that iTTigat!o n projecl in the state a committee had beE-n set: up andClllled foreffecthrefunding loensull!adequalel'lfldproper towards its completion and metering of COt1SUrTleI'!i _ _ _ _·~ 'n~.~"gu,...lalion