NEWSPAPER REVIEW – 24 October, 2018
The United States African Development Foundation
BDC
Exch. Rate (USD) 362
Exch. Rate (Pounds) 475
Exch. Rate (Euro) 416
Inflation 11.28
Crude Oil Price $79.73
BUSINESS DAY
Stakeholders seek better policies, conducive
environments for insurance sector growth
…believes insurance can reduce poverty, create wealth
Insurance industry stakeholders have called for a
conducive environment as well as growth driven policies to
enable the sector thrive and also surmount its present
challenges.
The stakeholders who spoke at the 2018 edition of the
Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB)
conference/ exhibition, with the theme ”Insurance Industry:
Survive, Thrive”, also underscored the need for operators
to tackle the internal problems bothering on discipline and
ethical issues to increase public acceptability and trust.
To read more on this article, see page 24
RSA fund 2 attracts 44% of pension assets
…as active funds accounts for 75%
The Multi Fund Structure, newly released amended
investment guideline by the National Pension Commission
(PENCOM), which became effective July 1, 2018 has
begun to influence assets investment allocations by
Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs)
As at the end of August 2018, Retirement Savings
Accounts(RSA) Fund 2attracted 44% of total pension fund
assets invested by the PFAs amounting N3.70 trillion, out
of a total of N8.33 trillion pension assets in the industry.
To read more on this article, see page 25
THIS DAY
USADF Invests $24m to Boost Local
Enterprises, Farming
(USADF) has invested $24 million in grants to various
multipurpose cooperative societies in Nigeria to boost
local enterprises and rural farming.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a conference
and mini-agriculture fair in Abuja, the Executive Director
of Diamond Development Initiatives (DDI) and
implementing partner for USADF projects, Mr Adamu
Garba, explained that the funding was mainly to boost the
productivity of the beneficiary cooperative societies.
To read more on this article, see page 24
Ahmed: $8.1bn MTN Sanction is Hampering
Investors’ Confidence in Economy
The federal government yesterday admitted that the
recent $8.1 billion fine imposed on MTN Nigeria and four
other banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over
foreign exchange infractions has had negative impact on
investor-confidence in the economy.
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said authorities
had since been working to offer some explanation to
investors on how the matter was being resolved.
She added that government could not afford to allow a
repeat of the development because of its implications for
the economy.
To read more on this article, see page 25
THE NATION
NHIS crisis: Fed Govt, House to the rescue
The crisis rocking the National Health Insurance Scheme
(NHIS) is far from being over. The governing council that
suspended the schemes executive secretary has
threatened to quit if its decision is reversed. Students’
unions are also plan to storm the NIHS office today. But
the Presidency and the House of Representatives are
intervening, report VINCENT IKUOMOLA
For the Executive Secretary of the National Health
Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof Usman Yusuf, this is not
the best of times. His suspension, the second in less than
18 months, has pitted workers’ unions within the scheme
against one another.
The embattled NHIS boss had showed up at work a day
after his ‘indefinite suspension’ last Thursday by the
scheme’s Governing Council. The unions staged protests
and counter-protests on Monday.
Security agents had hectic time controlling the organised
protests staged by three unions at the NIHS Abuja
headquarters by pro and anti-Yusuf.
The unions are the Association of Senior Civil Servants of
Nigeria (ASCSN), Medical and Health Workers Union of
Nigeria (MHWUN) and Nigeria Civil Service Union
(NCSU). According to the Governing Council, Yusuf was
suspended over alleged gross misconduct.
To read more on this article, see page 2
PTAD payrolls 9,125 ex NITEL, Mtel workers
After 12 years of post-privatisation uncertainty, the
Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD)
has added 9,125 ex-workers of Nigerian
Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) and its mobile arm,
Mobile Telecommunication Limited (Mtel) to its monthly
pension payroll.
PTAD Executive Secretary, Sharon Ikeazor, in a
statement said it was in line with President Muhammadu
Buhari’s commitment to ensure that all pensioners get
their entitlements.
DAILY TRUST
Investments on pension funds yield 16.42%
in 2017 – Data
Investments with accumulated funds in active Retirement
Savings Accounts (RSAs) yielded an average of 16.42
per cent in 2017.
Data exclusively sourced from the National Pension
Commission (PenCom) showed that the 2017 annualized
average rate of return for retiree fund was 15.39 per cent.
Comparatively, the weighted average return on
investment on the RSA ‘Active’ Fund in 2017 was higher
than the 11.59 per cent recorded at the end of 2016 and
also higher than the 8.65 per cent recorded in 2015.
Daily Trust’s analysis shows that in 2017, the average
inflation rate in Nigeria amounted to about 16.5 per cent
and considering the economic downturn in the economy
within the same year, Pension Fund Administrators
(PFAs) had managed to keep the average interests on
pension fund investments about the same average
inflation rate within the same year.
To read more on this article, see page 17

She revealed that payments to 1,385 next of kins (NoKs)

will follow shortly when the Directorate concludes the
computation of deceased pensioners’ benefits. The
Directorate, according to her, has been assuring the ex-
workers, who are under the Defined Benefits Scheme
(DBS), that they would be put on the monthly payroll to
start receiving their pensions for life.

To read more on this article, see page 13

‘Why accrued pension rights are delayed’

•Pencom pays N679b in 14 years

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) is waiting

for the release of funds from the Federal Ministry of
Finance to be used in paying accrued pension rights of
Federal Government retirees under the Contributory
Pension Scheme (CPS).

The Commission in a report on accrued right payment

said the expected fund will be used to pay batches of
retirees, who retired between September to December
2017.

In the report, PenCom’s Acting Director-General, Mrs

Aisha Dahir-Umar, said the Commission has paid
143,637 retirees N679.68 billion since the
commencement of the Scheme in 2007.

To read more on this article, see page 13