₦airaland Forum

YEAR 2012 is year that Nigerians would not forget in a hurry.
It was ushered in by crisis and anguish and ended on a
disastrous note for many Nigerians.
As witnessing deaths of many Nigerians both ordinary and
prominent, 2012 is a year that the country had its baptism of
natural disasters especially flooding, which ravaged more
than 17 states of the federation rendering millions homeless
and destroying farmlands and property worth trillions of
Naira.


Beginning on a strike note
From day one, it was clear to discerning minds that 2012
would be a tough year. How? The Federal Government after
assuring Nigerians that fuel subsidy would not be removed
until April, 2012 chose to start implementing the policy on
January 1, which was a Sunday.
Price of fuel jumped from N65 per litre to between N141 and
N250 in different parts of the country. The Labour, civil
society organizations and many Nigerians embarked on
strike and mass protests and for two weeks, the nation was
on a standstill.
A host of Nigerians who traveled for the Christmas and New
Year celebrations became stranded as transport fares
skyrocketed. Peace returned to the country on January 15,
when the government cut petrol price to N97 per litre and
Labour called off its strike.

Boko Haram’s offensive
After the New Year eve attacks, a series of assaults on
Christian churches and businesses occurred in northeastern
Nigeria.

High-wire politicking
Ordinarily, 2012 was not an election year but a January 27
decision of the Supreme Court unmask the year as of
feverish political contests and conquests. The apex court had on
January 27 sacked five governors namely, Ibrahim Idris
(Kogi), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa),
Aliyu Wammakko (Sokoto) and Liyel Imoke (Cross River),
saying that their tenures expired on May 29, 2011, a
decision that threw the affected states except Kogi open for
grabs. Kogi governorship elections had earlier been On
December 3, 2011.
With the Supreme Court verdict, the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) fixed gubernatorial polls for the
affected states as follows: Adamawa (February 4), Bayelsa
(February 11), Sokoto (February 18) and Cross River
(February 25). States like Edo (July 14) and Ondo (October
20) also had governorship elections in 2012.

The PDP convention and IBB
After the January fuel subsidy protests and retirement of
former Military President, General Ibrahm Badamasi
Babangida from active politics (January 26), came the
National Convention of the ruling PDP.
The convention, which was held on February 10 in Abuja, the
national capital led to the emergence of Alhaji Bamanga
Tukur as the national chairman of the party following a
break-neck politicking and horse-trading among President
Jonathan, the PDP governors and other top stakeholders.

Ojukwu’s burial
The burial of former Biafran leader and two-time presidential
candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in
the 2003 and 2007 elections, Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-
Ojukwu, was a major event that lightened up the cloudy
polity in 2012.

Loss of Bakassi
One of the issues Nigeria and Nigerians may live to regret for
a long time is the loss of Bakassi Peninsula to the Republic
of Cameroon following the failure of the Federal Government
to do the needful. Despite outcry from Bakassi indigenes and
some prominent Nigerians including a campaign led by
Vanguard, the government refused to appeal the October 10,
2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling ceding Bakassi
to Cameroon. Nigeria had a 10-year grace to appeal, which
lapsed on October 10, 2012.

Other major events
Other major events of 2012 include the House of
Representatives probe of the fuel subsidy scam and the
ensuing controversies that led to the removal of Hon Farouk
Lawan as chairman of the Subsidy Probe committee over
alleged bribe-taking; House of Representatives probe report,
which indicted the NNPC, CBN, NEITI and audit firms for not
remitting N3.098 trillion to the federation account between
2004 and 2011; the Malam Nuhu-led Petroleum Revenue
Special Task Force report on shady deals in the oil sector in
the last 10 years; the threat of the Reps to commence
impeachment proceedings against President Jonathan in
September if he did not take 2012 budget implementation to
100 per cent; the appointment of Justice Alooma Mariam
Mukhtar as the first female Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN; and
INEC’s massive de-registration of political parties, which has
left only 29 out of 63 political parties in existence.
The porported introduction of N5000 note, Nigeria Stock Exchange,Committee upon Committees,Electricity Privatisation and others.(Edited)

culled frrom http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/12/2012-a-year-of-high-wire-politicking-and-intrigues/

Examining Contributory Pension Scheme’s impact in eight
years
DECEMBER 24, 2012 BY NIKE POPOOLA


When the 2004 Pension Reform Act was promulgated, it was
meant to establish a contributory scheme for the payment of
retirement benefits of employees in the public and private sectors.
The law sought a system that would correct the failures of the old scheme, in which workers were subjected to undue hardship, especially in the non payment of their pensions. Under the old scheme, such expected beneficiaries had to queue for days to get their pensions, with many of them dying in the process without getting paid.
Under the contributory scheme, every employee is mandated to
open and maintain an individual Retirement Savings Account in
his or her name with any Pension Fund Administrator of his
choice and notify his employer of it, according to Section 11 of
the 2004 PRA.
PFAs are, by law, mandated to manage the RSA accounts, but these funds and pension assets must be kept with Pension Fund
Custodians, who are guaranteed by banks. They are to be
regulated by the National Pension Commission.
The employer, according to the law, must always deduct 7.5 per
cent of the employee’s remuneration and add another 7.5 per cent to it for such an employee; making a total of 15 per cent, which should be paid into the RSA as salaries are paid monthly.
On retirement, a worker can have access to the funds when he
reaches the age of 50 and is no longer in paid employment or,
when he gets to the retirement age stipulated by his employer.
However, he would not be allowed to withdraw the total balance in his RSA, as he can only be given certain percentage of the fund known as lump sum, while the rest will be utilized either as
programmed withdrawal or as annuity.
If the retiree opts for programmed withdrawal, his PFA will be
paying him monthly pensions for a maximum period of 18 years.
On the other hand, if he opts for annuity, the remaining balance in his RSA, after deducting the lump sum, will be transferred to an insurance company chosen by him, and the insurance company will pay him for life.
Major events, which had really impacted on CPS eight years after
its inauguration, can be analysed in different areas, including
coverage, assets, asset management, impact on retiree, impact on economy, challenges to the scheme, safety measures,
recapitalisation, setbacks and future prospects.
According to figures from PenCom on Friday, coverage of the CPS revealed that 5.28 million workers have been registered under the scheme.
The figures also revealed that 21 state governments have already
adopted the CPS, while 14 others are at various levels of enacting their CPS laws.
The President, Pension Fund Operators Association, Mr. Dave
Uduanu, said that only a few of the states had been fully
compliant with the deduction and remittance of monthly
emoluments of their workers to the PFAs.
According to him, the present figure of registered RSAs is far lower than what was set as target for the scheme at the onstart.
He said, “I expect the number of RSAs to increase soon by the
number of states that have enrolled in the scheme. I don’t think
that there are more than seven states that are fully compliant with the scheme now, which shows that there is a lot of work to do.” Interestingly, the asset of the CPS has continued to be on the increase according to PenCom.
Figures from the commission showed that the total pension fund asset rose from N405m, N815m and N1.09bn to N1.5bn in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 financial periods. Between 2010 and 2011, it rose from N2.03bn to N2.4bn, while it stood at N2.8bn as at the end of August 2012.
The funds, which cannot be left idle, are being invested in
different assets to yield profits.
As at September this year, the statistics revealed that N1.7tn,
representing about 63.07 per cent of the funds, had been invested in Federal Government of Nigeria’s securities. According to the statistics, a sum of N275.58bn or 10 per cent of the funds is in local money market securities; N273.29bn or 9.99 per cent of the funds is in domestic ordinary shares; with N171.87bn or 6.28 per cent of the funds invested in real estate property.
The figures enumerated that 3.99 per cent or N109.16bn is in
state government securities; 2.61 per cent or N71.36bn in
corporate debt securities; 1.33 per cent or N36.4bn is in foreign
ordinary shares; while 1.2 per cent or N32.68bn was invested in
other assets. Similarly, 0.85 per cent or N23.37bn of the funds is in private equity; 0.41 per cent or N11.2bn in open and closed fund; while 0.18 per cent or N4.8bn has been invested in foreign money market securities.
On profits made from the investments, the figures revealed that
the industry recorded 19.37 per cent, 0.34 per cent, 11.41 per
cent and 11.64 per cent average returns on investment of RSA
funds in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The Head Research and Corporate Strategy, PenCom, Dr. Farouk
Aminu, said that the pension funds were already generating
appreciable pool of funds for long-term investible funds.
According to him, the CPS currently has about 56,498 retirees
from the public and private sector, who have collected over
N152.36bn as lump sum, as well as collecting about N1.77bn as monthly pensions.
He noted that 54,558 retirees that opted for programmed
withdrawal had been paid N145.37bn, while only 1,940 had so far opted for annuity and had been paid N6.99bn lump sum.
Economically, the scheme had been making contributions to the
Gross Domestic Product, while happening in the global economy had also had some effects on the funds.
The immediate Past Director-General, PenCom, Muhammad
Ahmad, said that the proportion of the pension assets to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product rose from 1.4 per cent in 2006 to seven per cent in 2010.
Some of the harsh effects of the economy on the pension assets
were the effect of economic meltdown, which happened about
four years ago when the crash in the stock market started.
The commission had recorded a paper loss amounting to about
N3.14bn in the stock market, according to Ahmad.
Ahmad said the PFAs took a conservative approach to the RSA
investments and had invested just 15.93 per cent of the funds in equities in 2007, which was reduced to 9.25 per cent in 2008.
He said, the commission took steps to cushion market volatility
on those who had already retired under the CPS and directed
pension operators to establish retiree funds, which were only
invested in fixed income securities since the beneficiaries’
investment horizons were relatively shorter than that of those who were still in paid employment.
Ahmad also noted that the banking sector, which witnessed some reforms, constituted about 60 per cent of traded stock on Nigerian Stock Exchange. The banking crisis, he added, led to a fall in stock market capitalisation, which declined returns on equity investment.
Talking about the safety measures in place, he said that the CPS
has inbuilt safeguards to protect the pension fund from all forms of misappropriation with the functions of custody and
administration of the funds clearly delineated.
While the Pension Fund Custodians handle custody of the
pension funds, he noted that the PFAs handle the administration.
Ahmad said, “The PFAs and the PFCs are mandated by the
commission to maintain high levels of transparency and
accountability that enable individual RSA holders to have full
access to any information relating to the pension contributions.”
According to him, the commission has also put in place strict
regimes, including daily monitoring of the investment activities of PFAs by the commission, and the institution of strict payout
authorisation requirements to ensure that the PFAs are not
reckless in their investment decisions.
Concerning another major event in CPS, in May 2011, PenCom
ordered the PFAs to recapitalise from the initial accepted capital of N150m to N1bn, with June 2012, as the deadline to meet the new requirement.
By June ending this year, 18 PFAs had met the requirement; three were acquired by other PFAs, two failed to meet the deadline, while one PFA was taken over for mismanagement.
While the commission expressed its intention to revoke the
operating license of these two PFAs, it assured its retirees and
contributors that their contributions were still secure.
Some of the setbacks recorded by the scheme had to do with the
fact that as the funds were growing, many workers and retirees
started feeling irritated by the services being offered by the
pension providers. Also, the fate which collapsed the former
scheme, in which workers retired without having any pension
benefits are already reoccurring in the present contributory
pension scheme.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that many
contributors in the new pension scheme were already retiring with little or nothing in their RSA because their employers, who had been deducting their monthly emolument, had not been remitting such to their PFAs.
Ahmad raised the alarm that at the state level, most of the
employees who are retiring from the services may suffer a
reoccurrence of setbacks that happened in the old pension
scheme, in which workers retired and had no pensions to fall
back on.
He said, “We have about 21 states that are in different stages of
compliance, but unfortunately the compliance is a bit slow and
haphazard. The reason being that it is not mandatory for them, as they enacted their own laws. Ideally their laws should have
compelled them to do that. Some of them that started the scheme have either stopped or are paying the contribution haphazardly.”
The implication of the non-payment of the monthly contributions, he explained, would mean that the workers might not have any savings in their RSA accounts when they retire.
However, the Chief Executive Officer, Riskguard, Pension and
Insurance Consultant, Mr. Yemi Soladoye, said that the greatest
achievement of the scheme was that it had been able to address
problems of funding, pension arrears, future liability, which
crippled the old pension scheme.
Speaking on the future of the CPS, he said, “Definitely, there is a
lot of relevance to the scheme. The major concern now is that they should be able to consolidate on the gains of the past eight years, and address other issues on ground. With the exit of the management that had laid the foundation of the CPS, I pray they appoint the right person who has the right qualities to sustain the scheme.”

http://www.punchng.com/business/insurance/examining-contributory-pension-schemes-impact-in-eight-years/

For more Info:http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/appraising-eight-years-of-contributory-pension-scheme/133354/

What is the new Pension Scheme in Nigeria

The new scheme is a contributory, privately managed pension
scheme esterblished in the year 2004 for all employee. Every eligible Employee (private or public) shall maintain a Retirement Savings Account in his name with the Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) of his choice. The employee shall notify his employer of the PFA chosen and the identity of the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) opened. The employee and employer contribute a minimum statutory percentage (usually 7.5%) of the employee’s monthly emoluments (comprising basic salary, housing allowance and transport allowance with others depending on grade level & employemt service structure type) into the Retirement Savings Account of the employee.
The contributions would be managed and administered by
Professional Fund Administrators and held in custody by licensed Pension Fund Custodians.
At retirement, the amount in the employee’s Retirement Savings Account would be the total contributions plus income and capital gain earned on the contributions made.(Edited)

culled from http://www.ieianchorpensions.com/

Foe More Info: http://www.trustfundpensions.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=167&Itemid=167#

Pls feel free to share your experience about it if you are already integrated into the programme.

op
if & only if lecturing is ur career line then choice of MA uni may be a relative considerable factor & more over MA is not even the basic req for the lecturing itself unless u wona start off from other tertairy edu provider level.
if it is other profession and U are just for the entry level only, MA is not the basic entry qualificatn req but BSc.
if U are already 'IN' then, I dont think they should be concern abt whc uni U will obtain ur MA unless U want to switch industry or career.
Whichever uni it may be, I think ppl still have opportunity to show off 'SOMETHING' during the interview & selection stage.

In view of the irrational way some people do comment and open meaningless topics here, I wish to carry a survey on IQ measure of average Nairalander.
Hope we still remember the Lynn and Vanhanen (2006) report that accorded a national IQ of 69 to Nigeria.
https://www.nairaland.com/1085723/average-iq-nigeria-69

mr toptop, dont tell me at this satge U are still confuse on the career path to tour,after being a charterd acct.
Both are related and distintive as regards ur current job.
what are u up to now?
which of the qualifactn are u using in ur present workplace?
are u statify in ur present job positn?
which of the mgt area is ur favorite: MA,FA,Audit, Forecasting & Investmt Accting, Int'l Mgt, forex & Monetary mgt.
All dis should be a pointer to u if truly U can thrive in both same time but personally, I believe U cant be acctant or economist at d same time

Enockia: Hello house I have a question wit all these dates when can one start workin his postin I'm some sort of confused.....anyone care to assist

after 31 Jan 2013 or thereabout (cos some sch may paste the list that exact date) when your mobilization No would have come out.
@mococo I see U, hw ur side?

ITBomb hope u know the implication of this if things take a U-TURN?

OAM4J: It is not funny at all... even Seun didnt send me anything

U ppl(mods) and seun had round-table, No-3rd-Party chrismas party in the early hour today and after eating, kissing & doing *otherthings*, U then invited us for just some few min mingling and U chase us away.

mr seun I must say that yesterday drama is begining to yeild result. This forum if for all irrespective of any form of diff we may share.
This thrend FG feature was pushed by seun. #still expecting!!!#

mr seun I must say that yesterday drama is begining to yeild result. This forum if for all irrespective of any form of diff we may share.
This thrend FG feature was pushed by seun. #still expecting!!!#

State Governors Projects & Investments Listing State by State
In order to have a clearer picture of this current administration performance evaluation in our respective state, I will want all NLer to state any CONCRETE & SUSTANTIAL State Projects and Investments executed by their respective Gov which might have been commissioned or On-going (with the level of progress)
State project listing conditions (they are personal opinions, more valid conditions are welcome.)
Security: Street and Road light should not be included it’s is responsibility as the CSO of the state. He doesn’t play with his personal Security vote as well, we all that know now.
Education:I stand to be corrected, majority of these current leaders directly or indirectly benefited from the then Regional Govt Free & Compulsory Education Policy (even up to Tertiary level) so, No or Relatively low-Fee Schooling Policy up to secondary school level should not be included.
Health: Pry & Sec health services are the most affordable & accessible, so concentration should not be on any Teaching Hospital pls.
Road:Any concessioned & TOLL-PAID road should not be included pls. LG road with just complementary financial support of the state are not welcome also Intra-State few km distance road conduction/rehabilitation should not be include pls.
Investment:Any state govt investments that cannot benefit and have economic on at least the immediate LG of the siting wholly is not investment but SOCIAL SERVICE and should not be included pls. That is, investments that only benefit the elite or particular class of people are not an investments but economic sabotage of the downtrodden.
Budgetary system at all tier of Govt in this country is far from reality. Any reasonable govt that want to PERFORM should know and will not allow his Capital Budget be less than Recurrent expenditure or maintain a BALANCED BUDGET SYSTEM so we should not be really concern about the budgetary performances. We all know the diff between budget performance & ACTUAL Physical performance afterall.
We are just interested in the full disclosure of all STATE GOVT SUSTANTIAL & MEANINGFUL Projects & Investments since the inception of that particular administration.
We will appreciate links, Pictures & Mouth-Sayings (provided we can LOGICALLY trace & track the said achievement in Google archive & your fellow state-man on NL can attestate to it)
THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH POLITICAL PARTY OR REGIONAL AFFAIR POLITICS PLS

Signed; Orpelin Msc (In View)
#PLSTHISISMYSELFPROPELEDMSCPROJECTWORKONCOMPARATIVEPOLITICS#

FG Projects & Investments Compilation State by State.
In view of the various laudable projects and investments of the present FG administration led by President GEJ in each state of the federation that are currently on-going and those that have been commissioned, we wish to itemize them for #MyProjectWork# references and posterity purpose.
These projects should be those newly handle by this present administration; commissioned or on-going (if possible show % level of progress) or left-over by the various past administration and that was financially reinvigorated with Concrete (and approved here on NL) evidence on the amt committed and COMPLETED during this present administration.
*The projects & Investments should include the level of damaged done to the immediate people involved if any (I meant Landed property cos of the current ill-formulated-FG Land Use Act that should have been amended. We should discuss LAND USE ACT soonest). Knowing fully well that not every landed property have the correct & officially approved title (the C of O), so we should know the compensation paid in comparison to the economic benefit & magnanimity of the said project.
*The benefit to the immediate LG (I tell you, for every FG substantial project in any LG area, the Chairman is always HAPPY. If U don’t know, go ask from Niger state why IBB redesigned the state LAND MASS during state creation with regard to River Niger and Kanji Dam)
*The benefit to the state: In a cosmo-ethino-religious country like ours which I haven’t seen its 2nd kind anywhere else, FEDERAL CHARACTER Principle is a must #I Stand To Be Corrected# So, the benefit to the immediate state & nearby state should be included pls.
* the benefit to the country: If it has national or regional advantage at all.
We are just interested in the full disclosure of all the FG Projects & Investments State by State since the inception of that particular administration led by President GEJ (GCFR) and even from era of his COMPLETION OF THE 8-POINT AGENDA administration.
We will appreciate links, Pictures & Mouth-Sayings (provided we can LOGICALLY trace & track the said achievement in Google archive & your fellow state-man on NL can attestate to it)
THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH POLITICAL PARTY OR REGIONAL AFFAIR POLITICS PLS

Signed; Orpelin Msc (In View)
#PLSTHISISMYSELFPROPELEDMSCPROJECTWORKONCOMPARATIVEPOLITICS#

this write up too much. I go read am after I don finish eating my chrismas rice.

Recall this: Federal Govt, Stopped World Bank From Given More Loan To
Lagos State Govt.. Just this year November.
http://nairaland.com/1116816/federal-govt-stopped-world-bank
Ikorodu-Ketu expansion work is expected to be carried out from this money.

[quote author=ekt_bear]how on earth did you permute his name into MAO4J?[/quote]That was just a typo error in the header only which the editor didnt noticed before published.
check d main story. Haija mukina2 can help me out if she wishes.she was here few minite ago.
btw, it is just a lateral rearrangement and nothing more.

I believe that any meaning state govt project should affect the following set of people owing to the fact that the fed allocatn go to state acct, LG allowance equally goes to state acct b4 disbusment #& even deductions#, the state rev producing agency remit their money to the state govt not LG also the state borrowing leverage power its has.
Here are they:
Senatorial distric of the state
LG area of the state
Group of particular localities in 1 or more LG
Industrial cluster settlement
Pure residential settlement
Specific-purpose projects
Any project that has been concessioned should not be include
Blocks of classroom building is just a relatively worth-while project
few km intra-town road contruction should not be included
any project without economic value should not be include #Tree Beautification projt#

In the spirit of the tolerance we have been preaching. Sect'l mod of this thrend & other mods should ensure that is peace deal produce a cleansing effect in the way they discharge their responsibilities.
invariably, I am equally saying this thrend should be allow to grow!!!

The mirror uproar among the NL admin- Seun and some sectional moderator has being laid to rest.
In the closely-guided highly classified statement which does not allow public strutiny of the agreement signed by the Political sectional moderators Jarus & OAM4J, stated that things are now in order.
Recall that the main noise came up some few hours ago but in the spirit of the season, all parties are back to business & equally learnt their lessons.
In the mean time, let the discussion continue here:

its a well known fact that NGF is one of the useless self-centered entity in Nigeria political system.
Btw, can this senate or Reps really give nigerian the TRUE amendment to the constitution without national confab

Tmany: didn't applied for ogun got edo state posted to a secondary skul around ekpoma area will manage it for now 9 months to Go.
SEASON GREETINGS to everyone

Some ppl don dey countdown shapaly. he gud sha

dis ur 2013 action plan na serious thing oooo

Dey are just as many as many. I cant even rem the title self unless u won make I check the feature link page.
Na mukina2 we should to.
this should make the front page

[quote author=Chima_Adeoye]Boko Haram sponsors are already afraid
[/quote]Record shows that U are far away from here and U dont know fully BH & Nigerian politics.
Not minding so many common issue we share, it seems u are a baby in nigeria & int'l politics most esp wrt africom & nigeria political unrest.
The US antecedent is enough as evidence.

cos they have stolen our money. #simple#

I Luv D Golden Rule

see the level of our political tolerance in this country.

Nigeria Army dont allow dem pls.
Nigeria govt dont permit dem ooo
Nigeria President, this is not good if U KNOW that.
NASS pls take action if the current GCFR holder wont repel dem.

Nigeria Army dont allow dem pls.
Nigeria govt dont permit dem ooo
Nigeria President, this is not good if U KNOW that.
NASS pls take action if the current GCFR wont repel dem.

This is a political calculation. 2015 political race for kaduna don start be that.
can anybody give us the senatorial district of the state current top 10 political leader now?