31 employers pay N154.61m fine for non-remittance of pension

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

Thirty-one employers who failed to remit pension contributions deducted from their workers’ salaries to the appropriate Pension Fund Administrators (PFA) have been mandated to pay a total fine of N154.61 million

According to the Q2 2021 report released by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) represents part of the total N398.006 million recovered from them.

A total of N243.396 million representing the principal contributions was also recovered from the defaulters.

The report also disclosed that 19 other defaulting employers had been recommended for appropriate legal action.

While the defaulters were penalised over the infractions, the commission received 10,700 applications from private sector organisations for Pension Clearance Certificates (PCCs) to further qualify them for Federal Governent contracts.

According to the report, “out of this number, PCCs were issued to 10,417 organisations, while 283 applications were in the approval process as at June 30, 2021.

“The records showed that 10,417 organisations had remitted a total sum of N38.371 billion into the Retirement Savings Accounts of their employees totaling 127,483.

On refund of pension contributions to military personnel and employees of state security agencies, the report noted that during the quarter under review, the commission granted approval for the refund of N6.708 million to 57 personnel of the military and other security agencies, who were exempted from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

An update on the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) also revealed that the commission received applications for transfer of NSITF contributions on behalf of 332 NSITF contributors.

“Approval was granted to transfer N17.026 million to the Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) of 298 members. “On a similar note, the commission approved monthly pensions in the sum of N62.327 to 3,629 NSITF pensioners,” the report noted.

 

NIPC tracks $8.99bn investment announcements in Q3 2021

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) said it tracked $8.99 billion as investment announcements in the third quarter of 2021 (Q3 ’21), with Lagos State accounting for 81 percent at $7.29 billion during the period.

NIPC reported this on its website yesterday, adding that the investment announcements in Q3 ’21 was 130 percent higher than the value of $3.95 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2020 (Q3 ’20). It added that the total investment announcements so far tracked this year (January to September) stands at $19.10 billion.

The Commission further noted that a total of 33 projects were tracked across 8 States during the period. NIPC stated: “The month of August was the most active during the quarter, accounting for 64 percent of the total announcements.

“The top 10 announcements accounted for 96 percent of the volume tracked. Compared to Q3 2020, there is a marked improvement in the level of confidence in the investing community post COVID-19.

“In the period covered by the report, Lagos State received the largest share of the announcements with 20 projects accounting for 81 percent ($7.29 billion) of the total in manufacturing, information and communications, finance and insurance, human health and social services, and electricity.

“Rivers State recorded $300 million worth of announcements in manufacturing and transportation, and Oyo State had $231 million announced in electricity and trade (e-commerce).

“The four States accounted for 87 percent of the total investments.”

On a sectoral basis, NIPC reported that the sectors with the most investment announcements tracked were manufacturing (42percent), electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (25percent), information and communications (23percent) and transportation (7percent).

The Commission added that domestic investors were the most active during the period accounting for 47 percent of the announcements, followed by announcements from South Korea (22percent), South Africa (16percent), and the Kingdom of Spain (6percent).

NIPC noted that its report is based only on the news articles tracked from July to September 2021, adding that “it may not contain exhaustive information on all investment announcements in Nigeria during the period”.

The Commission however noted that the report, nevertheless, gives a sense of investors’ interest in the Nigerian economy.
NIPC further stated that it did not independently verify the authenticity of the investment announcements but is working on tracking the announcements as they progress to actual investments.