10042019 - Politicians, traditional rulers aiding bandits — DEFENCE MINISTER

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38 <strong>—</strong> Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2019 Verification: Lamentation as Airways Pensioners no sleep at center By Victor Ahiuma-Young & Monsuru Olowoopejo vicahiyoung@yahoo.com How we're tackling non-remittance of pension fund ----PenCom boss By Victor Young ONE of the major challenges facing the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, is the issue of poor remittance by private sector employers. In this interview with the Acting Director-General of the National Pension Commission, PenCom, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, she gives insight into how the commission is addressing the challenge, among other issues. Excerpts The level of remittances by private sector employers has been a major drawback to the CPS. How are you addressing it and what have been achieved and the challenges? The Commission has developed a Framework for Compliance with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act, PRA, 2014. The Framework outlines the strategies being adopted to drive compliance. The strategies include the appointment of consultants to review the pension records and recover unremitted pension contributions and penalties from defaulting private sector employers. Other strategies are the issuance of Pension Clearance Certificates, Complaints Resolution and Monitoring of Compliance through onsite inspection of employers, Public Awareness, Engagement and Collaboration with social partners and relevant stakeholders. The implementation of these strategies has improved the level of remittances of pension contributions by the private sector employers. The appointment of Recovery Agents, RAs, to recover unremitted pension contributions plus penalty has been largely successful. It has boosted the confidence of contributors and encouraged non-participating employers to embrace the scheme. Through this initiative, the Commission has recovered N15.53 billion comprising principal contribution N7.99 billion) and penalty (N7.54 billion) from defaulting employers. The penalty is remitted to the employees Retirement Savings Accounts, RSAs, to compensate for the income that would have been earned if the contributions were remitted as and when due. The Commission issues Pension Clearance Certificates, PCCs, to private sector employers with three or more employees. The PCCs are renewed on yearly basis. Through this initiative, the Commission has ensured the remittance of N124.6 billion from 16,536 private sector organisations who applied for the certificate in 2018. Furthermore, the Commission drives compliance by private sector employers through public awareness campaigns and engagement. This initiative aims at educating employees/employers and expanding the coverage of the Contributory Pension Scheme. In addition, the Commission monitors compliance through onsite inspections to ensure that employees of private sector organisations open Retirement Savings Accounts, RSAs and pension contributions are remitted as and when due. Meanwhile, in a bid to ensure compliance with the CPS, the Department had faced challenges. Some of these challenges include: Reluctance of some employers to remit pension deductions due to perceived increased personnel cost; Non or irregular funding of RSAs by private sector employers as a result of weak business environment; Absence of a comprehensive database of private sector employers and their accurate addresses. So far, the Commission has relied mainly on information provided by complainants and returns rendered by operators for data on Reluctance to establish necessary structures to drive implementation of the reform in many states has contributed to the poor compliance status defaulting employers. *Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar- Acting DG, PenCom It is being insinuated that Pen- Com is afraid to take on the media believed to be the most recalcirant in private sector, thereby endangering the retirement life of staff of these organisations. What is your response? The Commission engages defaulting employers, including media organisations, on non-remittance of pension contributions and penalty in line with its Regime of Sanctions. Furthermore, the Commission had also appointed RAs to review the pension records of employers and determine their level of compliance with the provisions of the PRA 2014. So far, the Commission has identified and assigned 20 defaulting media organisations to the RAs. To date, the sum of N238.19 million has been recovered from 11 of the media organisations as three of them have fully settled their outstanding pension liabilities while eight made partial remittance of their established pension liability. Furthermore, 12 media organisations (inclusive of some who have made partial remittance) are being prosecuted by the Commission on non-remittance of pension contributions. In addition, we urge employees in the media sector to report cases of non-remittance of pension contributions to the Commission. Is the Federal Government up to date with remittance in the core civil service and parastatals? The pension contributions of permanent employees of the Federal Government of Nigeria under the treasury funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, are deducted regularly at source by Budget Office of the Federation, BOF,/Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, OAGF, and credited to the Contributory Pension Account at Central Bank of Nigeria. Thereafter, the Commission remits the pension contributions of such employees from the CPA into their respective Retirement Savings Accounts, RSAs, with Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs. The Federal Government of Nigeria through the BOF has continued to promptly deduct and release pension contributions to the Contributory Pension Account, CPA, domiciled with Central Bank of Nigeria for onward remittance into the employees’ RSAs. In essence, the FGN has been up to date with the remittance of Pension contributions for the core Civil Service and Parastatals. What is the status of implementation by state governments? Pursuant to the enactment of the Pension Reform Act, PRA 2014 which mandated the participation of employees of the public service of the Federal Capital Territory, States and Local Governments as well as the private Sector in the contributory Pension Scheme, the National Pension Commission (the Commission) has consistently been engaging various state governments, trade unions, relevant stakeholders and the general public on the full benefits of the CPS with a view to bringing them to full implementation of the scheme. This pursuit of the Commission is yielding better result as more state governments are inching towards enacting laws to facilitate their full adoption of the CPS. To date, 24 states have enacted Laws on the CPS which are substantially in tandem with the provisions of the PRA 2014 while six other states - Kwara, Benue, Plateau, Cross River, Borno and Akwa-Ibom - have drafted Bills on the CPS and are currently undergoing the legislative processes towards their passage into law. On the other hand, three states - Jigawa, Kano and Adamawa - have embarked on the Contributory Defined Benefits Scheme while Bauchi and Katsina states have also drafted pension reform bills on the CDBS. Yobe State has, however, decided to continue with the Defined Benefits Scheme. Out of the 24 states with pension laws on the CPS, five states - Lagos, Kaduna, Ondo Edo, Ekiti states, Anambra Local Government and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, are currently remitting both the employer and employee pension contributions of their employees while four states, namely: Zamfara, Kebbi, Rivers and Anambra remit only employee portions of pension contributions of either the state or local government employees. On the determination and funding of the past service benefits of the employees (accrued rights) in states that have adopted the CPS, seven states and the FCT have conducted Actuarial Valuation while Kaduna, Osun, Delta, Lagos States, Anambra Local Government and the FCT are funding their Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund Accounts RBBRFA. However, only Delta, Kaduna, Osun states, Anambra Local Government and the FCT have opened RBBRFAs for domiciliation of their employees’ accrued rights.On compliance with the requirement for the procurement of a Group Life Insurance Policy for workers under the CPS, only Kaduna State and the FCT currently have valid Group Life Insurance policies for their employees. Similarly, Lagos, Kaduna, Delta, Osun states and the FCT have commenced a hitch-free and timeous payment of pension contributions under the CPS. On the requirement for setting up a proper administrative structure to drive implementation of the CPS in states, in line with their respective state pension laws, only 14 states have established the Pension Board/Bureau/Commission to implement their pension reforms. The reluctance to establish the necessary structures to drive implementation of the reform in many states has, however, contributed to the poor compliance status among states in the country. The implementation of the CPS has indeed been quite challenging for the states and local governments, amidst the tough financial constraints occasioned by low internally generated revenues and dwindling crude oil receipts into the Federation Account. Other key challenges militating against the implementation of the CPS as observed in various states have been the lack of political will on the part of the state governments and the inordinate allocation of scarce resources to less impactful projects. Many state executives would rather invest in infrastructure that could be visible and therefore serve as a means for gaining political capital than settle pension obligations to retirees. Read full interview online, www.vanguardngr.com
Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2019<strong>—</strong>39 Garlands for Dangote, Africa’s pillar of investment at 62 By Thomas Imonikhe THERE is overwhelming empirical evidence of the brilliance and excellence in business leadership and uncommon philanthropy demonstrated by Africa’s richest man and president of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote who clocked 62 today, Wednesday, April 10, 2019. From cradle to his looming presence and leadership in African entrepreneurship, Dangote has surpassed global imagination. In fact, in Africa and the Black race, the Kano-born billionaire, who is affable and media-shy dwarfs all superlatives. His faith in the brand Nigeria and indeed Africa, despite all odds and damning negative economic indicators, has perhaps motivated the business mogul to invest massively and establish industries producing essential items required by the low and mighty in the society. Little wonder then that brand Dangote rings a bell in virtually every nook and cranny, and won several accolades across Nigeria and beyond even though he has not held any public office, including that of President or Governor. Deeply religious and one with a great passion for alleviating the plight of the most vulnerable members of society, Dangote before plunging into full business in 1981 in Lagos State, must have imbibed the American billionaire Warren Buffet’s wise counsel that three virtues, namely intelligence, energy and integrity, are a must for any man to succeed in any chosen endeavour in life even though the third is the most important. In other words though he has become a role and business model for many across the globe, the billionaire at a young age realised that there is dignity in labour which clearly has been one of his abiding principles in life journey. Therefore, it is not surprising that he has never been a guest of any of the nation’s anti-graft bodies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC. His flawless business record so far should serve as a big lesson to all, especially upcoming youths some of whom are currently v e r y desperate to succeed in life by cutting corners and engaging in all manner o f criminality. Reputed to be the second Dangote is clearly an honest man, embracing transparent business ethics and playing by the rules and regulations governing the business environment biggest employer of labour after the Federal Government and the leader in indirect employment through his numerous business chains churning out wide ranging products like sugar, flour, cement and services in Nigeria and across the continent, his latest foray into the petrochemical industry through Dangote Refinery which is expected to bring permanent relief to the nation’s troubled petroleum sector when it comes on stream later this year, is outstanding. Aliko Dangote, holder of Nigeria’s second highest honour, the Grand Commander of the Niger, GCON, had an estimated net worth of US$10.6 billion as of March 2019. He is ranked by Forbes magazine as the 100thrichest person in the world and the richest in Africa. According to Wikipedia: “Aliko Dangote, an ethnic Hausa Muslim from Kano State, was born on April 10, 1957 into a wealthy Muslim family. He is the great-grandson of Alhaji Alhassan Dantata, the richest African at the time of his death in 1955”. Dangote was educated at the Sheikh Ali Kumasi Madrasa, and Capital High School, Kano. He has a bachelor’s degree in business studies and administration from Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. Speaking on his foray into the unpredictable world of business, he •Aliko Dangote @62 recalled: “I can remember when I was in primary school, I would go and buy cartons of sweets (candy) and would start selling them just to make money. I was so interested in business, even at that time.” However, like the mustard seed, Dangote Group which was planted as a small trading firm in 1977, the same year the upcoming entrepreneur relocated to Lagos, the company has blossomed to the consternation of many. It is also on record that his path to stardom didn’t come easy as the young Aliko started his business with the N500,000 loan he took from his uncle, Sani Dangote, in 1977 after laying out his plan to establish a business outfit and his uncle’s decision to grant his request to start the business. He proceeded to repay the loan within a three-month repayment deadline handed him. His foray into business started with trading in commodities like sugar, rice, pasta, salt, cotton, millet, cocoa, textile and vegetable oil, importing some of these commodities into Nigeria before leaping to the world of manufacturing where he has recorded a major financial breakthrough in life and birthed the Dangote Group, an organisation that now controls over 13 companies. Today, it is a multitrillion-naira conglomerate with many of its operations in Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo and other countries. Dangote has further expanded to cover food processing, cement manufacturing, and freight services. The group also dominates the sugar market in Nigeria and is a major supplier to the country’s soft drink companies, breweries, and confectioners. Consequently, the group has moved from being a mere trading company to becoming the largest industrial conglomerate in Nigeria and West Africa including Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote Cement, Dangote Flour and Dangote Refinery employing more than 11,000 people directly. Defending his uncommon passion for fatherland, Dangote said: “Let me tell you this and I want to really emphasise it ... nothing is going to help Nigeria like Nigerians bringing back their money. If you give me $5 billion today, I will invest everything here in Nigeria. Let us put our heads together and work.” Certainly, Dangote has built a vibrant and untainted reputation for his group, and he corroborated this during an interview that “to succeed in business, you must build a brand and never destroy it. One competitive advantage I had when I ventured into manufacturing was my brand (Dangote), which I diligently built in the course of my trading.” But unlike some of his peers who are cunning businessmen, Dangote is clearly an honest man, embracing transparent business ethics and playing by the rules and regulations governing the business environment. The group in its years of operations runs credit and tax records adjudged by experts as very tidy and he is also an apostle of integrity in business practices as stipulated by the extant laws and regulatory authorities. Expectedly, ahead of his birthday, many Nigerians have been paying glowing tributes to the business icon considering his success record. National President, Constance Shareholders’ Association of Nigeria, Shehu Mallam Mikail has described Dangote as a pillar of investment in Africa, and a man committed to excellence and the wellbeing of the people irrespective of race and creed. Continues online •Imonikhe is former Editor, Daily Champion C M Y
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10042019 - Politicians, traditional rulers aiding bandits — DEFENCE MINISTER

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