Lalasticlala, ishilove come and see o

The truth is bitter and this is a fact though a stale one, some people are more superior, some people are more important than many Nigerians. I don't like to view the meaning of minority by dictionary definition as the smaller number or part, especially a number or part representing less than half of the whole but in Nigeria context meaning POOR.

One super rich man is majority in a community with 10,000 poor men, naija for you. The government of our dear country Nigeria have repeatedly and constantly failed us in all aspect most especially in the area of security (lives, properties, food). The minority (poor) die daily while one man majority (families and friends of government) can afford all the securities in the world.

All the people in government should know that the blood of every single innocent Nigerian who has died because of government negligence is on their head and they will surely answer to that on the last day. All government officials embezzling public fund thinking it's their right, should have a rethink (Abacha with all the money in the world, died and was wrapped in the cheapest of cloth and dumped 6ft).

We the poor can only hope and look to GOD for safety. GOD bless Nigeria

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Pension matter for this country na scam. Man will labour for 30 years plus and will fight to get his or her pension, this only happens in Nigeria. The challenges will continue to rear it ugly head even in future of Nigeria's pension industry. Plenty Employers are corrupt, wicked and heartless. The part of government is even worst.

Today, we will be talking about the challenges and future of Nigeria's pension industry. Nigeria does not rate very highly when compared to other developing nations due to our size as the most populous nation in Africa, or the length of time Nigeria has had a well-structured pensions industry, which is about 11 years. When certain parameters are used to measure comparison such as size of pension funds as a proportion of the Gross Domestic Product, Nigerian does not rank very high. In terms of pension fund assets as proportion of GDP South Africa stands at 87.96 percent; Namibia, 77.03 per cent; Botswana, 40.05 per cent; Kenya, 13.25 per cent; Ghana, 5.35 per cent; and Nigeria, 5.06 per cent.

PenOp is very mindful of the fact that a lot of Nigerians focus on today and do not pay much attention to how they will fare in old age or how they will cater for their loved ones when they retire. This way of thinking coupled with the bad perception of pensions due the mismanagement that plagued the old system means we have our work cut out for us as an association in raising the awareness of the safety of the CPS and importance of pensions to all Nigerian workers and this we are tackling head on through forums, social media, the print media.

Voluntary contributions are not driven just by hammering on the importance of savings and an ability to put extra part from what is demanded by law, but with the current awareness levels being what it is and also taking into consideration the challenges of getting employers/employees to comply with the mandatory contribution, the voluntary contributions are not very high. Figures received from PenCom indicate that they currently stand at approximately 0.24 per cent of the total pension assets under management. This figure will change once the informal sector is fully engaged in the CPS.

We know that many companies have failed to comply with the Pension Reform Act even after deducting from employee salaries, and this has been a major drawback. The failure of the defaulting companies as one of the many problems hampering the progress of the organization. The PRA 2014 states that it is mandatory for any employer with three or more employees we are trying to keep track, and the regulatory body responsible for enforcing compliance is PenCom, who are dedicated to this task. The PRA 2014 has also clearly spelt out penalties for defaulting employers which PenCom enforces. It is important to point out however, that employees of such employers, who either deduct and do not remit to their employees RSA or do not deduct at all, have recourse. They must be proactive by sending details of their employers contact address (anonymously if they so wish) to PenCom's compliance department and also to their PFAs to follow up and ensure their employers are forced to comply with the law.

Another area where there have been concerns is the investment of the pension funds. Capital market operators have lamented that pension fund administrators have refused to seriously invest in equities. Though PFAs take their role as fiduciaries of other people's savings extremely seriously which is why they are guided by what we call the "Trifecta" – safety, liquidity, then returns. PE offers higher returns but higher risks too. Note that we are not averse to investing in equities; however, we will only do such investments through safe instruments or vehicles. We must see that there is a very clear path of getting invested capital back, plus a fair return. Our mantra has always been safety first, followed by liquidity and return. Remember that retirees will be paid with cash, not brick or mortar. There is need for some kind of credit enhancement to make the investments more attractive. This could come by way of partial or full guarantee of say, the Federal Government of Nigeria. The current PenCom guidelines have widened the playing field by allowing for investment in many alternative asset classes, including Private Equity, infrastructure bonds/funds, mortgage backed securities etc, so there is a diversified range of assets we can invest in. The challenge is the quality of the available proposals. We emphasise safety and liquidity over return. The way the pension system is set up under the new Scheme – Contributory Pension Scheme, there are many checks and balances put in place as measures to ensure the safety of the funds. For instance, the PFAs never have direct access to the funds contributed. These are held with the pension fund custodians who have the guaranteed backing of four of the biggest and well established banks
in the country namely First PFC, Zenith PFC, Diamond PFC and UBA PFC. The Custodians transact based on the instructions of the PFAs and in line with regulations/guidelines set by PenCom. PenCom on the other hand monitors very closely the transactions made on pension funds and have set out strict guidelines on investment that further ensure the safety ad relative liquidity of the funds.

In recent times the savings culture of Nigerians has improved. There is still a long way to go as we can be quite myopic sometimes and choose not to focus too far in future hoping that it will take care of itself. Savings can greatly be encouraged through education in pensions and retirement
planning as well as a boost in salary because it is when you have excess left that you truly say something meaningful. This highlights the importance of the CPS even more because it makes saving for the future mandatory so whether you like it or not, you can expect a pension when you retire. You may not appreciate the mandatory nature of the scheme now but having a steady source of income from savings is usually a great feeling as attested to by most of our retirees.

PenOp is naturally focusing on how to improve Nigeria's pensions industry through efforts that enhance service excellence and capacity building as well educating the general populace. To achieve this, PenOp has played a very active role in driving legislation that has made Pensions more inclusive for Nigerians ie from employers of five or more employees to now employers of three or more employees. PenOp is also active on social media driving the conversation with Nigerian workers, answering their questions and educating them on how the CPS works, processes involved and importance of Pensions. There is a lot of misinformation and mistrust still existing and we are tirelessly addressing peoples' concerns. As the CPS will include the informal sector shortly, it is essential that the Operators front office staff and operations staff are well trained and PenOp has organised trainings in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt to improve and ensure the standard of service being provided by all Operators is in line with International Best Practices. PenOp has also organised extensive trainings in investment of pension funds and risk management all aimed at service excellence. We have also held fora in conjunction with key stakeholders like NECA and PenCom to educate them on the implications of the PRA 2014 on employers and employees alike. Information is Power thus we seek to empower Nigerian workers by keeping them informed enough to make wise decisions regarding the financial security of themselves and their loved ones.

There are a few main concerns for the industry: one, compliance with the law has been waning; rate of enrolment into the CPS has slowed down. Current enrolment stands at 6.5 million out of a population of 170 million. How can we get traction in compliance and thereby raise the number of contributors to say 20 million in the next three-five years? Two, funding of registered RSAs is becoming a challenge for many employers. Three, while our investments have been safe and returned reasonably above inflation in the past, inflation is rising and with currency devaluation, real return on investments is threatened, and four, general awareness on the importance of pensions among Nigerian workers.

We would definitely consider the young vibrant population of workers that have their whole careers and lives ahead of them a definite strength for the pensions industry as they represent a pool of funds that can be invested for economic growth. Also, the highly regulated and supervised Contributory Pension Scheme which ensures Nigerian workers can trust the system and more importantly can retire in peace and financial stability whilst maintaining a decent standard of living. Finally, the drive of the operators to ensure people's savings are managed and administered at
international best standards so there will be no repeat of the old scheme is a definite strength for the Nigerian pension industry.

Where I worked, my pension wasnt paid for over 9 months and it was deducted from my salary every month, this made me resign the job after battling them for my pension, all to no avail. Employers taking advantage of employees and this is becoming unbearing and making me sick. Who do I cry to, over 9 months of hard labour gone just like that...

The piracy thing is becoming so bad, creativity is dead that's why we are seeing plenty of rubbish movies. We need to say no to piracy

How Nollywood can fight Piracy – World's Second Largest Movie Industry with low ROI

African heavy weight movie industry is facing its toughest times since its incarnation in the early 90’s.

Nigeria’s movie industry Nollywood is one of the biggest in the world, second only to Bollywood with Hollywood coming third place. The industry produces millions of movies a year with the industry going through its fast rise in the early 2000s and its movies now well known across Africa, America, Europe and most part of Asia.

The industry although known for producing low budget and poor quality home videos can now boast of releasing high quality films now premiering in cinemas across Nigeria and the rest of the world.

This is all great but the problem of movie piracy is still highly prevalent and is seriously crippling the industry.

Directors are at risk of their films being dubbed onto CDs by the black market and sold without their consent. Youtube especially has a large collection of films from the industry which can be watched by any user around the world completely free of charge.

With the recent protest from the like of Kunle Afolayan, Steph-Nora Okere, Jide Kosoko, Tunde Kelani and other stakeholders.

The issue is actually something that can be solved from within if care and due process is properly taken to hand. Directors, studios and producers/marketers need to have control of their creative work using the ‘Hollywood’ film marketing strategy, a process where newly produced movies to be released first in cinemas for at least a year depending on movie performance before been mass produced on CD for rentals / Buy.

Although the lagos state art and culture has decided to come out with a task force helping to monitor and put in place an interim legislation in protecting movie markets, only time will tell if and how it will work.

Putting up their films on youtube, online platforms with little or no security from pirates will only give access into dubbing onto CD’s. Movie produced and placed on Youtube will return a profit but with greater cost of direct accessibility to illegal downloads. A typical film produced will most likely take an editor hours to cut and compress for online media but access to illegal downloaded youtube content will only take few minutes to produce thousands of copies for the Alaba market.

A typical Hollywood movie will always make back tantalising return on investment over the years of release. By keeping a tighter finger-print of their work they are able to measure and control a higher level of returns.

You can hardly find Hollywood movies on youtube and this should also be the norm for Nollywood films. Not only will controlled distribution of these movies benefit the filmmakers, it will also benefit the audience as the quality of the films making, script writing and marketing will improve over time due to increased revenue being returned back to the industry.

This is why Okiki Platform is here. We are a mobile first platform with anti-piracy features. Okiki works closely and also collaborate with the Nollywood industry to make the change its needs.

Download the Okiki app and let help fight piracy.
http://okikiblog.soulsapp.com/2015/08/17/how-nollywood-can-fight-piracy-world-second-largest-movie-industry-with-low-roi/