All Posts in "Day: June 12, 2022"

Nigeria woman in California returned $36,000 found in Sofa to owner

By admin

 

Vicky Umodu, a Nigerian woman who lives in San Bernardino California has shown an exemplary display of honesty after she returned (36,000) N14.9m she found in a sofa.

The honest Nigerian woman was said to have moved into a new home in California and was checking on Craigslists for new furniture to buy.

How it happened

The honest Nigerian woman was said to have moved into a new home in California and was checking on Craigslists for new furniture to buy.

She found out that there is a family who wants to give out furniture belonging to a late relative.

She picked up the chairs and had them delivered to her new home. When the chairs arrived, she was checking them out when she found a huge sum stashed in one of them.

Umodu said:

“I just moved in, and I don’t have anything in my house. I was so excited, so we picked it up and brought it in.

‘I was just telling my son, “Come, come, come!” I was screaming, “This is money! I need to call the guy!”’

She returns the money

They made contacts with the kind family that gave them the chairs and had the money returned. She said:

‘God has been kind to me and my children. They’re all alive and well. I have three beautiful grandchildren, so what can I ever ask from God?’

After returning the money, she got the sum of N900,000 in return for her honesty.

When Umodu spotted a Craigslist post advertising free furniture, she said, she felt as though she’d won a jackpot.

Then she learned that she’d actually taken home a jackpot.

It was May 18, and she and her son, Oly Umodu, 29, had collected the free furniture and moved the pieces into their living room. Vicky Umodu said she felt something unusual as she was placing the upholstered cushion on an oversize, cream-colored armchair.

The money stucked in envelopes

 

The seat cushion seemed off.
She thought perhaps there was a heating pad inside, so she unzipped the cushion, stuck her hand in and felt around.

“It wasn’t a heating pad, but I could feel there was a bunch of paper,” she said. “When I pulled it out, I was shocked.”

“I was happy to help Vicky and put the furniture and other items to good use,” he said. “When she called me about the Craigslist ad, she told me she had nothing and needed everything that I was posting.”

“My heart went out to her, but you also wonder if somebody is going to turn around and sell everything for a profit,” he said.

When he drove to Umodu’s house and saw there was nothing inside except the furniture she’d picked up at his uncle’s house, it was a validation of her honesty, he said.

“I was appreciative that they truly needed everything they’d taken,” he added.

Patoma Admin by — June 12, 2022 in Metro 0
PFAs registered 93,113 RSAs in Q1 2022

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said that 93,114 Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) was registered by Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) in the first quarter of 2022.

According to a report on PenCom’s official website checked by patomabusinessonline,. The report showed that RSA Transfer System (RTS), was a total of 7,663 RSA holders initiated RSA transfers in the first RSA Transfer Quarter of 2022, which was concluded in the first week of April 2022.

The report noted that 25 States of the Federation has enacted pension laws on the CPS, while eight states are at the bill stage, and four states adopted the Contributory Defined Benefits Scheme (CDBS).

The report showed that the registered 93,114 was made during the first quarter under review bringing the cumulative RSA registration from inception to 9,621,979 as at March 31.

“This covered RSA transfer requests, submitted by PFAs between January 1, and March 31, which were eligible for RSA transfer in the first quarter of 2022.
“Out of the total RSA transfers initiated, 5,543 RSAs were transferred to their new PFAs, along with their associated pension assets, while 2,120 transfer requests failed.

“The failed submissions by PFAs could be attributed to their internal processes, as all the PFAs recorded some failed RSA transfer request submissions,” the report reads.
It noted that an application was received by PenCom from the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), to transfer NSITF contributions, on behalf of 218 NSITF contributors during the quarter under review.

“Approval was granted to transfer N11.53 million to the RSAs of 213 contributors; on a similar note, the commission approved monthly pensions in the sum of N40.47 million to 2,304 NSITF pensioners.”

The report also stated that the compliance by State Governments to the status of Implementation of the CPS and other Schemes as at Q1 2022 was impressive.
“25 States of the Federation had enacted pension laws on the CPS, while eight states are at the bill stage, four states adopted the Contributory Defined Benefits Scheme (CDBS),” it stated.

The report also revealed that 11,200 applications was received by PenCom from private sector organisations for the issuance of Pension Clearance Certificates (PCCs).

“Out of this number, PCCs were issued to 10,541 organisations, while 659 applications were in the approval process as at March 31.

“The records showed that the 10,541 organisations actions had remitted a total sum of N59,39 billion into the RSAs of their employees, totaling 45,170,” the report said.

Patoma Admin by — June 12, 2022 in Pension 0
ECOWAS PARLIAMENT concerns about 2023 elections in Nigeria, Liberia, S/Leone

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament Y Dr. Sidie Mohamed Tunis has expressed the need of finding the best possible ways of ensuring  peaceful electoral process in Nigeria, Liberia  and  Sierra Leone.in 2023

He made the call in Abuja at the commencement of the First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in 2022.
Hon. Tunis: “May I remind us that next year will be very pivotal for democracy across the region? With elections scheduled to hold in three Member States; the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone, our role in ensuring that the democratic processes are conducted in a way that guarantees the best possible outcomes cannot be overemphasized.

“In coordination with the ECOWAS Commission, we must begin our engagements long before polling day to ensure successes in all three Member States.”

He also said, despite the gains made by the ECOWAS states, terrorism, kidnapping, and banditry continue to cause major setbacks for security in the region. In Burkina Faso, Mali and the Federal Republic of Nigeria the situation has worsened.

“We condemn the recent attack on the Kaduna International Airport and the Abuja-Kaduna train that led to the loss of innocent lives and injuring too many others; the gruesome attack at St. Francis Catholic Church in Ondo State that led to the killing of many, and many others unfortunate deaths across the region,” he lamented
He further stressed the need for regional cooperation and integration which he said is beneficial to the survival of the ECOWAS Community.

To leverage the vast benefits of multilateralism and parliamentary diplomacy, I represented the Parliament at several regional meetings including the Parliamentary Summit on Regional and Provincial Unions of Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean and the 144th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

“These engagements demonstrated our full commitment to Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation and support our determination to bring much-needed visibility to this Parliament.”

On the Supply of vaccines to Africa, especially COVID-19, he said the continent still has a proportionately low number of fully vaccinated individuals against COVID-19. “Challenges ranging from the supply and delivery of vaccines to the shortage of medical staff, vaccine hesitancy and low health systems capacity, impede the Continent’s ability to tackle not only the current health crisis but future ones as well.”

One of the key highlights of this First Ordinary Session was the presentation of the State of the Community report by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency, Jean Claude Kassi Brou.

It was done in accordance with Article 32 of the Supplementary Act on the Enhancement of the Powers of Parliament, which stipulates that: “At each ordinary session of the ECOWAS Parliament, the President of the Commission shall present a general report on the state of implementation of the Community’s work program”.

The presentation by the President of the Commission provides an opportunity for Members of Parliament, as representatives of the people, to track and oversight the implementation of community programs.

Also on the agenda of the session are Parliamentary workshops where public, private and the organized Civil Society are expected to share their concerns and challenges, as well as present and explain to regional Members of Parliament, their missions, and achievements.

The ECOWAS Parliament which is a Representative Assembly of the peoples of the Community has a statutory and guaranteed minimum of (5) seats for each of the 15 Member States, while the remaining forty seats are distributed in proportion to the population of each country.

Consequently, Nigeria has 35 of the 115 seats, followed by Ghana with eight seats. Others are Côte d’Ivoire seven Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Senegal with six seats each. The other Member States namely, Benin, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo have five seats each.

Patoma Admin by — June 12, 2022 in Foreign 0
Disengaged Nigerian workers withdrew N5.66bn pension contributions in Q1 2022

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The National Pension Commission, PenCom, has revealed that 9,517 Nigerians who were disengaged by their employees withdrew N5.66 billion from their pension contributions in the first quarter of 2022.

PenCom stated this n its quarterly report published on its website and obtained by patomabusinessonline on Sunday

According to the pension act, “Anyone under the age of 50 years who were disengaged from work and unable to secure jobs within four months can access 25 percent of their total savings”

The breakdown of the figure shows that 481 out of the workers were from the public sector and 9,036 from the private sector.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, PenCom reported that 10,804 workers withdrew N6.41 billion.

This indicates that in six months over N12 billion had been removed from the contributory pension fund.

In another report, PenCom cleared 10,541 companies for being faithful in the payment of their workers’ pension and insurance covers.

The companies, the commission noted were among the private firms eligible for government contracts.

PenCom also received 11,200 applications from private sector organisations for the issuance of Pension Clearance Certificates. Out of this number, PCCs were issued to 10,541 organisations while 659 applications were in the process for approval as at March 31.

“The records showed that the 10,541 organisations had remitted a total sum of N59.39billion into the Retirement Savings Accounts of their employees,” the report added.

Patoma Admin by — June 12, 2022 in Pension 0