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Tag: Reduce

  • Buhari Moves To Reduce Food Prices

    Buhari Moves To Reduce Food Prices

     

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mohammed Abubakar, has said the President Mohammadu Buhari-led government is doing everything possible to bring up stimulus that will cause a reduction in food prices.

     

    The minister made this known on Monday during a familiarization tour of the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) in Abuja.

     

    In the past months, there has been a steady rise in the prices of foodstuff in the country.

     

    “We are doing everything possible to bring up some kind of stimulus that will cause a reduction in food prices, naturally nobody will just sit and watch.

     

    “We are doing what we can to see that the agricultural sector is improved and the food that we expect for the teeming population of Nigeria is being produced, the same thing with the livestock.

     

    “The government is doing everything possible. This President, Muhammadu Buhari, is very passionate about agriculture, about seeing that people have food every single day to eat without struggles on their tables,” the minister said.

     

    The minister said he would support the agricultural research council and the research institutes in the country to work together to develop better crops that can yield more and resist disease and drought.

     

    Dr Mohammed also said the President specifically directed him to make sure that the research institutes in the country were being well taken care of, adding that it was his priority to see improved capacity to conduct research so that crops can be improved upon.

     

    The minister reiterated that the government was set to reintroduce the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) after the scheme was scrapped a few years ago, adding that it has found a way that would make it work better.

     

    “My own concern is to make sure that the input gets directly to the farmers, not being withheld by middlemen.

     

    “We will do all it takes to make sure that the system that will be rolled out gets the input to the grassroots farmers,” he said.

     

  • Pencom Moves To Reduce Unfunded Retirement Savings Accounts

    Pencom Moves To Reduce Unfunded Retirement Savings Accounts

    The National Pension Commission has ordered Pension Fund Administrators to ensure that all remitted contributions are credited into the Retirement Savings Accounts of the workers.

     

    This is to reduce the number of unfunded RSAs of workers under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

     

    PenCom disclosed this in its quarterly report on ‘Update on the on-site analysis of pension fund operators’.

     

    Part of the report read, “The review of the operators’ activities during the third quarter of 2020 indicated substantial compliance with the extant laws and regulations issued by the commission.

     

    “The key area of regulatory concerns were the rise in unfunded RSAs.

     

    “The PFAs were directed to ensure all remitted contributions are credited into the RSAs of the beneficiaries and also liaise with the respective employers to ensure up-to-date funding of the contributors’ RSAs.”

     

    PenCom stated that it suspended the 2020 on-site examination of pension fund operators due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

     

    However, it added, the enhanced off-site surveillance of pension operators continued through review of the monthly reports submitted by the operators.

     

    It stated that a review of the compliance reports forwarded by the pension operators during the quarter under review revealed a significant rise in the number of RSAs with un-credited pension contributions.

     

    The PFAs attributed the backlog of un-reconciled contributions to their skeletal workforce for processing the contributions, in compliance with the COVID-19 induced stay-at-home order.

     

    They were nonetheless, directed to ensure all pension contributions received during the lockdown were duly reconciled and credited to the respective RSAs of the contributors.

     

    Other notable observations from the compliance report were that all outstanding payment of retirement benefits approved by the commission had been credited into the respective RSAs of the beneficiaries by the PFAs.

     

    The operators also met all the outstanding commitments due from previous routine examinations within the quarter, it stated.

     

    PenCom stated that it granted approval to five private sector organisations and one public agency to establish additional benefits schemes for their employees in line with the provisions of Section 4(4)(a) of the PRA, 2014.

     

    The commission stated that it issued a revised circular on the requirements for granting PFA and Pension Fund Custodians licenses, to reflect the provisions of the PRA 2014 and industry developments.

     

    It added that it issued a framework for virtual meetings by licensed pension operators, setting out the minimum standards and regulatory requirements for virtual meetings in the era of COVID-19 pandemic.