The Nation Newspaper

Tag: industry

  • Awards target promotion of film industry in Cross River

    In a bid to encourage film making  in Cross River State, producers, directors and screen writers will be honoured at the Cross River Movie Awards.

    The awards’ Executive Director,  Eric Anderson, said the ceremoy was to increase movie making in Cross River State.

    The awards, which will be the second edition, will include honorary, life time achievement, special achievement, posthumous awards, performance and merit awards

    He said: “Cross River State Movie Awards is actually for movies produced in choice locations in Cross River. We intend to restrict it to that because we need to increase more production in Cross River State.

    “The industry in Cross River is over 15 years old. Whatever you do, apart from the positive rub-off of the Cross River State image, one thing we are trying to do is to promote talent, and empower talent. We are developing people and creating a sense belonging and the state would see an increase in traffic, economically and so on.

    “Cross River State has been doing well as far as the entertainment industry is concerned. We have experienced some movies of international production such as Streets of Calabar and Half of a Yellow Sun. Also lots of parents are even encouraging their children to go into the entertainment industry because of how well it is doing. The entertainment industry in Cross River has improved a lot but there is still room for more improvement.”

    Sylva Bogbo, the event consultant, said: “Not just promoting people but also promoting culture. We are opening the ground. And Cross River is the hub of tourism in Nigeria. We are in entertainment tourism, we are trying to make Calabar the Hollywood of tourism in Nigeria. It is going to be something special.  We are recognising our people and those who have come here to work.

    “The award basically is designed to see how we can award practitioners, felicitate with them. Over the years we have had people who have worked in this field of endeavour, that is, movie acting, producing and directing.

    “After last year, what we showcased took the government by storm. It was a success. Between when we had the first movie awards and now, 13 full movies have been shot in the state. We have had a lot of development of local talent.

    “Even people who came from outside have seen what we have to offer and are eager to work with the local people. This year’s edition will be excellent with the kind of preparation on ground coupled with the fact that we have endorsement from the Federal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation.

  • 2014: New Bill, improved regulation, others raise hopes for industry

    2014: New Bill, improved regulation, others raise hopes for industry

    Following the enactment of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004 and its subsequent implementation, the problems that confront workers after their retirement have largely disappeared. The appointment of a substantive head for the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and speedy passage into law of  the 2013 Pension Reform Bill are some of the factors that will define the pension landscape this year, writes OmobolaTolu-Kusimo.

    Prior to the establishment of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and enactment of the Pension Reform Act 2004, pension schemes in Nigeria were bedeviled by many problems.

    The public service operated an unfunded Pay As You Go Defined Benefit Scheme under which the payment of retirement benefits were budgeted yearly. The allocation for pensions was often one of the most vulnerable items in budget implementation.

    In many cases, even where budgetary provisions were made, inadequate and untimely release of funds resulted in delays and accumulation of arrears of payment of pensions. There were outstanding pension liabilities, weak and inefficient administration of pension schemes and pension scam.

    Also, most private sector employees were not covered by any form of retirement benefits. Private sector schemes were mostly “resignation schemes” as opposed to “retirement schemes.”

    It was obvious, therefore, that the Defined Benefits Scheme could not be sustained. Against the backdrop of a huge deficit, arbitrary increases in salaries and pensions as well as poor administrative structures, the need for pension reform became glaring.

    It necessitated a re-think of pension administration in the country by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Accordingly, the administration initiated a pension reform to address and eliminate the problems associated with pension schemes in the country. The outcome of the reform was the enactment into law of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004.

    One of the benefits of the new scheme is that retirement benefits are safe and available to pensioners promptly. It has the potential to stem the trend of thieving, and has the ability to end the menace of ghost workers in the civil service.

    According to PenCom, there is also a principle of separation of custody of funds from management and supervision.

    The PRA establishes a Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for payment of retirement benefits of employees of the public service of the Federation, the and the private sector. Under the CPS, the employees contribute a minimum of 7.5 per cent of their basic salary, housing and transport allowances and 2.5 per cent for the military. Employers in the public sector contribute 7.5 per cent while the military 12.5 per cent.

    Employers and employees in the private sector contribute a minimum of 7.5 per cent each. An employer may elect to contribute for the employees such that the total contribution shall not be less than 15 per cent of the basic salary, housing and transport allowances of the employees.

    The Act also established PenCom as the single body responsible for the regulation of the pension industry in Nigeria with a cardinal objective to regulate, supervise and ensure the effective administration of pension matters.

    The Pension Fund Administrator (PFAs) and CPFAs are the key operators under the scheme and as such are responsible for the administration and management of pension funds under the Act. They deal directly with the contributors or Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders and their beneficiaries on continuous basis. The PFCs on their part are subsidiaries of licensed financial institutions responsible for the custody and safe keeping of pension assets.

    At present, the pension industry boasts of N3.8 trillion pension fund.

    Meanwhile, events that will shape the industry in the year include the Pension Reform Bill, adoption of risk-based supervison, investment opportunities, issues of non-remmittance, transfer window, decentralisation among others.

     

    Adoption of risk-based supervision

    The commission would continue to fine-tune its risk-based supervisory approach in the discharge of its supervisory and regulatory function. In this regard, PenCom has deployed and implemented a risk management and analysis sytem (RMAS), which follows off site examinat

     

    ion of pension operators as well as generate timely industry report.

     

    Appointment of substantive DG

    Since the exit of the pioneer PenCom Director-General (DG), Ahmad Mohammed and the directors a year ago, the Presidency has not replaced them. Instead, it appointed Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu as acting DG.

    This led to a lull in activities at the commission. But with the appointment of a substantive head, there is bound to be an improvement in the supervisory and oversight functions of the agency. The commission is waiting for a substantive head as the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters headed by Dr. Alloysius Etok winds up the screening of the nominated chairman and commissioners.

    President Goodluck Jonathan had sought the Senate confirmation of former Governor Adamu Mu’azu of Bauchi State as chairman of the Commission; Anohu-Amazu (Southeast), Director-General; Omotowa Gilbert (Northcentral); Mohammed Abubakar (Northwest) and Adesojo Olaoba-Efuntayo (Southwest) as commissioners. A source hinted that the president may inaugurate the appointees this month.

     

    Supervision of old pension scheme

    Mrs. Anohu-Amazu said the Commission is refocusing attention on the supervision of the old scheme to eliminate its inefficiencies.

    This, she said, would be carried out through the Pension Transitional Arrangement Department (PTAD) established by the Federal Government.

     

    Dynamic investment regulation

    The commission employed dynamic investment monetary procedures that focused on risk issues as they affect the investment portfolio of pension fund. This was backed by support activities towards the development of new financial instruments and deepening the financial market. Plans are in the pipeline to introduce multi funds and allow foreign investments by pension funds. In order to ensure successful implementation of this programme, research capabilities are also being enhanced in investment and risk manage

     

    ment.

    Investment opportunities

    It is expected that the new pension bill, if passed into law, will boost investment opportunities for PFAs in the country. Mrs Anohu-Amazu said the need to broaden the universe of instrument for pension fund investment is of equal importance as the need to support the drive for tax-efficient laws that would promote the introduction of alternative assets and significantly impact on contributors and the economy.

    She cited the Real Investment Trust (REITs), Asset and Mortgage backed securities, adding that the commission has identified dearth of investible financial instruments.

     

    Amendment of the PRA 2004

    Amendment of the Pension Reform Act 2004 is ongoing in the National Assembly and has passed through the second reading in the Senate. The amended Act would address various stakeholders’ concerns and other problems the commission identified during the implementation of the reform since 2004.

     

    Compliance by small employers on CPS

    Compliance among the small sized private sector employers remains a critical challenge in the implementation of the CPS.

    Mrs Anohu-Amazu said these organisations see the CPS as additional costs to their operations and are not willing to implement the scheme.

    She added that the informal sector and self-employed persons lack a coherent structure and have an unwieldy composition, which renders their integration into the new scheme difficult.

    Policy issues, such as contribution rate, mode of collection and enforcement have been addressed by the framework put in place by the commission, she added.

     

    Transfer window

    Transfer window will avail contributors under the CPS opportunities to move their RSA account from one PFA to another. This is expected to increase customer service and market efficiency. At present, this remains a challenge for PenCom to achieve because of lack of proper identity management structuire in the country. But the commission has promised a biometric system in place. The commission is optimistic that the transfer window will be opened soon.

    Non-remittance

    In January, last year, PenCom asked the Attorney-General of the Federation for a fiat to institute criminal proceedings against employers who default in remitting pension contributions of their employees to their RSA.

    In a circular, the commission said the move will enable it institute criminal proceedings against employers for persistent refusal to remit pension contributions as at when due. The Commission called for the amendment of Section 11(7) of the Pension Reform Act, PRA 2004, stressing that the provision has alot of limitations.

     

    States’ participation

    Southwest Zone which comprises Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo and Osun states led other zones as far as CPS implementation is concerned.

    According to reports from PenCom, all states in this geo-political zone have enacted the Act to establish the CPS for civil servants while almost all have started its implementation.

    Going by this, workers in the Southwest zone are guaranteed pleasant retirement.

    With many of the state government promising that they would comply fully this year, PenCom believes that they woukld do the needful for their workers.

    Mrs Anohu-Amazu has, however, assured pensioners under the new scheme of prompt payment of pension and security of pension assets this year. He also assured them of compliance by employers and effective service delivery by operators.

    Generally, it assured of a safe and sound industry, positive contribution to economic development and contribution to social safety net.

    Vice President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Issa Aremu while speaking at the opening of PenCom zonal office in Kano, commended the agency for changing the story of pensioners from that of agony to joy in retirement.

    He said PenCom’s remarkable growth and development in less than 10 years of its establishment, showed that the nation is capable of institution building.

    With 20 PFAs, seven closed PFAs, four Pension Fund Custodians with impressive turnover, about N3.8 trillion worth of pension fund assets and 5.83 million registered workers, PenCom deserves commendation, he added.

    “The old defined benefit scheme as good as it could be is not sustainable. With the new pension scheme, there is good corporate governance, strengthened PFAs, with guaranteed transparency and accountability.

    “All the revelations about the public sector pension scam show that we must urgently think outside the box of unfunded, crime-prone defined benefit (DB). The future lies in the mandatory individual defined contributions which the Pension Reform Act represents. The bane of public sector pension lies in its non-contributory character as well as sheer corruption and diversion of funds even allegedly for partisan political purposes. NLC protest in the past over pension is legitimately directed against this much abused non-contributory public pension scheme,” he said.

    Managing Director, AIICO Pensions, Mr. Lounge Eguarekhide, said the regulatory environment and processes in the pension industry are stable.

    He said: “I think that investment return was a lot better last year than it has been over the last two years. Compliance has improved because PenCom has appointed recovery agent that have done some work in improving compliance to the CPS. For this year, I think we are going to see some of consolidations of work done by the regulator but the distraction of elections would probably slow things down on the government side.

    “So we are not likely to see a lot of recruitment of workers on the government side. We are rather hopeful that with recoveryin some of the sectors particularly the new electricity management that is place among other positive developments in the industry, there will be huge growth in pension account in 2014.”

     

  • Don seeks more funding for creative industry

    Don seeks more funding for creative industry

    The Vice Chancellor, Federal University, Udufu Alike, Ikwi, Ebonyi State, Professor Ibadapo Obe, has charged federal and state governments to put in more funds for the expansion of the creative industry in Nigeria.

    Obe made this known at a two-day British Council Creative Industry Expo 2013 organised by the British Council, Nigeria, in collaboration with Enterprise Creative in Lagos.

    Tagged: ‘Capacity: The Building Blocks for a Competitive Creative Economy’, it brought together hundreds of youths, members of the academia, government agencies, entrepreneurs, civil society groups, actors, and other stakeholders across the country.

    Obe said that Nigeria has a huge capacity of young, innovative, creative, enthusiastic, creative minds that need support and encouragement in utilising their talent for the nation’s progress.

    He said: “I see shared power in our youths and when I look at it, I could see that if we can open up the box a little and incorporate the youthful enthusiasm, we are likely to solve lots of problems in the creative industry.”

  • ‘Let’s prioritise agric, industries’

    ‘Let’s prioritise agric, industries’

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha has appealed for the rejuvenation of agriculture, local industries and commerce as a way of ending the nation’s over-reliance on crude oil as its main source of revenue. The governor pointed out the danger of shunning agriculture, indigenous industries and commerce in preference for exhaustible oil.

    The governor called on the federal government and other state governments in the country to think about the next generation by diversifying the economy away from the oil sector.

    Okorocha made the call while addressing some traditional rulers who paid him a solidarity visit at the government house, owerri.

    He was not happy that many people have abandoned agriculture which according to him had accounted for more than 80% of the country’s foreign earnings and attributed this to the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in the country.

    Governor Okorocha said that the country had depended on the revenue from the oil sector for a long time saying that if nothing was done to improve the industrial, commercial and agricultural sectors with the oil money, there will be no hope for future generation of the country.

    The state chief executive announced that part of the programme of his administration is to provide an enabling environment for private individuals who want to establish industry and is determined to establish at least ten industries before the expiration of its tenure.

    He further announced plans to revolutionalise agriculture in the state by ensuring that the state becomes self sufficient in food production and also boost the production of palm produce to improve the country’s foreign earnings.

    Governor Okorocha then called for the cooperation of all in the state to enable his administration take the state to the peak of infrastructural and economic development.

     

  • Capacity underutilisation hits lubricant industry

    The President and Chief Executive, Bellmari Energy Limited, Wafailu Bello has said most of the lubricant companies in Nigeria have not exceeded 40 per cent of their blending capacity due to harsh operating environment.

    Some of these constraints include importation of adulterated product into the country and proliferation of blending plants where people do cheap blending. He lamented that some of the importers of the product are big players who flood the market with the product through unapproved routes.

    He identified lack of protection, affordable facilities and enforceable regulation to check the influx of contaminated base oil into the country as other challenges confronting the sector

    Wafailu has therefore urged the Federal Government to ensure that the blending companies get facilities cheaply from the banks so that they can also produce good products at cheap rates that would be affordable to Nigerians.

    “Due to the economic situation in the country, a lot of people seem to be tilting towards the low quality oil in the industry. That is why you have a lot of local blending going on and low quality product circulating in the market. It is affecting the industry,” he said

    He lamented that many investors had invested on setting up blending plants but were unable to operate up to installed capacity because there were a lot of local blending going.

    He has also stressed the need for the refineries in the country to begin the production of base oil.

    Base oil are the components that are removed from crude oil. Others are diesel, kerosene, petrol, aviation fuel, vaseline, coal tar and black oil.

    He said his firm provides lubrication solution to manufacturing industries in Africa, including Dangote and Dantata and Sawoe construction.

    He tasked the government to provide infrastructure in the country, adding that a good transport network system including roads, railway will allow operators to move products around at low cost.

    He said: “If you have a functional railway system, you can produce your goods anywhere in the country and transport it to any part of the country cheaply and you would be able to compete.

    “Bringing products from overseas is cheaper than products blended in this country.

    “Unless the federal government do something to protect the local industry, they are still going to go under because people are looking for good products at cheaper rates and a lot of good products are coming into the country from neighbouring countries including the middle East and Europe.”

     

  • Industrial, ethical stocks lead stock market’s returns

    Investors who staked their funds on industrial goods and ethical stocks have made almost a double of average return by other investors as non-financial stocks strengthen their increasing dominance at the Nigerian stock market.

    Year-to-date return analysis at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that investors in industrial goods stocks and selected stocks that complied with non-interest, low gearing standards of Islamic investments have the highest returns in the stock market.

    Market’s opening data provided by the NSE on Monday showed that companies that engage in manufacturing of industrial goods such as cement and paints have generated the highest returns for investors.

    Investors in industrial goods stocks have earned twice the returns in the banking, oil and gas, insurance and consumer goods sectors and they are leading market’s overall average return by some 25 percentage points.

    The NSE Industrial Goods Index is the benchmark for four subgroups including building materials, electronic and electrical products, packaging and containers and tools and machinery. However, it is dominated by building material stocks, especially cement and paints manufacturing companies.

    The NSE Industrial Goods Index consisted of 10 leading stocks out of the 26 companies listed in the sector. The representative stocks were selected based on their market capitalisation and liquidity. The benchmarked stocks included Ashaka Cement, Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria, Dangote Cement, CAP, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), Berger Paints, Cutix, Portland Paints & Products Nigeria, Beta Glass, and Paints and Coating Manufacturing Company.

    The NSE Industrial Goods Index showed a year-to-date return of 53.99 per cent, according to the values-on-board at the start of the market on Monday. Ethical stocks under the NSE-Lotus Islamic Index (NSE-Lotus II) trailed with a year-to-date return of 43.81 per cent, more than a triple of return in the financial services sector.

    The NSE Lotus II is the first index created to track the performance of Shari’ah compliant equities on the NSE and also the first index to be developed in collaboration with local partners. It was developed by the NSE in conjunction with Lotus Capital Limited. The NSE Lotus II excludes stocks in industries such as alcohol, interest-based financial services, tobacco, arms and ammunitions, gambling, piggery and other businesses regarded by Muslims’ laws as unlawful.

    The NSE Lotus II is constituted by 15 stocks, screened and selected by a Shari’ah advisory board. Five of the stocks that constituted industrial index- Ashaka Cement, CAP, CCNN, Dangote Cement and Lafarge Cement also formed part of the benchmarked stocks under the ethical index stock. Others included Cadbury Nigeria, Julius Berger Nigeria, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria, National Salt Company of Nigeria, Nestle Nigeria, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (Nahco), Okomu Oil Palm, PZ Cussons Nigeria and Unilever Nigeria Plc.

    The All Share Index (ASI), the common value-based index that tracks all equities on the NSE, posted a year-to-date return of 28.56 per cent. The NSE 30 Index, which tracks the 30 most capitalised stocks, has returned 26.23 per cent so far this year. The NSE Consumer Goods Index, which tracks mostly fast moving consumer goods companies, indicated average return of 220.43 per cent while the NSE Oil and Gas Index, which serves as benchmark for the downstream oil sector, recorded a year-to-date return of 23.48 per cent.

    Financial services indices showed the least returns among the main indices. The NSE Banking index indicated the lowest return of 13.74 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index has returned 13.98 per cent. The report underlined growing concerns about diminishing influence of banking stocks, which hitherto have domineering influence on the overall market situation at the Exchange.

    The NSE Lotus II was by introduced by the NSE to increase the breadth of the market and create an important benchmark for investments as the alternative non-interest investment space widens. The NSE had reasoned that NSE Lotus II would serve as an important diversification tool for ethically minded investors and portfolio managers both locally and from around the world, who seek to profitably invest in emerging African equities market. It is also expected to serve as a general benchmark for ‘ethical’ funds and also basis for creating Mirror Funds, Index Funds, Exchange Traded Funds, Index options and other instruments, which would broaden the range of financial instruments being traded on the NSE.

     

  • NAICOM, CEOs in discuss industry challenges

    NAICOM, CEOs in discuss industry challenges

    Commissioner for Insurance, Fola Daniel and Chief Executive Officer of insurance companies in the country yesterday held a meeting behind closed doors over burning issues in the industry.

    The top echelon who met at the 2013 Professionals’ Forum of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) with theme, “The Insurance Industry in Motion-Emerging Issues for the Professionals” at Premier Hotel Ibadan, Oyo- State declined to speak with journalist on the agenda of the meeting.

    The meeting is coming on the heels of failure by 28 insurance company’s inability to submit their International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) financial accounts to NAICOM for approval three months after deadline.

    Sources hinted that this and other issues like Group Life arranged for Federal Government workers and regulatory and legislative matters form part of the discussions.

    The insurers according to insurance law risk cancellation of their operating license following the June 30 deadline submission date.

  • Revive coal industry, Committee urges govt

    Revive coal industry, Committee urges govt

    THE Committee on Coal to Power Project set up by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development has called for the revitalisation of coal industry.

    It said such a step would afford the mineral various uses, especially for power generation to meet the yearnings of the masses.

    The Chairman, Ministerial Committee on Coal to Power Project and the Director-General, Mining Cadastre Office, Mohammed Amate, said the body also recommended the need to carry out further geosciences work to generate more data on the available coal resource in the country, which would make them attractive to prospective investors and enhance the development of the coal resource for power generation and other uses.

    He said the committee observed that the coal to power initiative being adopted by the present administration seems to be the simplest, most economical and sustainable option for the country.

    He said the committee also proposed a two-prong programme aimed at accelerating the exploitation of Nigeria’s coal resource for power generation which includes:Committed efforts for the development of the privatised/concessioned coal blocks(Low Hanging Fruits)i.e Ogboyega I and II and Okaba coal blocks; and development of other identified coal resource blocks with little or no geosciences data.

    The chairman expressed optimism that if the observations and recommendations proffered in their report were considered and fully implemented, Nigeria would meet the objective of achieving the security of energy within the shortest period of time.

    The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Musa Mohammed Sada, expressed happiness at the commitment of the Ministerial Committee and their ability to submit a report on schedule.

    The minister reiterated the Federal Government’s desire to generate up to 30 per cent of electricity from coal fired power plants to meet the power requirements of the country.

    He noted that the committee was set up to ensure information relating to coal locations are harnessed and “to know the level of information we have on them and what level of information we require“.

    Sada also noted that the type and quality of coal resource in Nigeria is of power producing type which is widely acknowledged, adding that about two private investors had indicated interests in taking up some of the coal locations in the country.

    He disclosed that a special mining retreat, which would be chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan, would hold this month, noting that coal-to-power project would be the focal point of discussion at the event.

    The minister identified power as one of the critical infrastructural requirements of mining , saying: “Unless we solve the power problem, we can hardly make progress in any other sector of the economy.”

    He expressed his ministry’s determination to collaborate with other relevant ministries, departments and agencies of the government in ensuring that the project was achieved.

    The minister thanked the committee for doing a good and assured them that the report would serve as a springboard for the ministry to move forward.

    Earlier in his opening remarks, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Linus Awute, said the committee was inaugurated to assess how far the ministry had gone and what needed to be done to transmit the concept of coal-to- power into reality.

  • Artiste urges investment in music industry

    Artiste urges investment in music industry

    Hip-hop star, Dapo Oyebanjo, popularly known as D’banj, has urged the Federal Government to design programmes that will boost the country’s music industry. This, he said, will help in improving the talents in the country.

    D’banj said this when he paid a visit to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke.

    He said that the youth in the country were endowed with music potential that should be harnessed.

    “Nigeria’s entertainment industry needs support and I am committed to being a part of efforts toward achieving this. Everything about us should not be about oil,” he said.

    He also spoke about the need to promote the country’s image in the international community through music and entertainment.

    “We can achieve this through establishing a collaboration that will offer support for young and up-and-coming musicians who have the talents to showcase the country to the world.

    “There have been a lot of wrong perceptions about how we are. When you spend the whole day, you will understand. I want everyone to come and see how great Nigeria is. People will get to see,” he also said.

    D’banj also described the entertainment industry as an employer of labour, adding that it was capable of keeping the youth economically engaged and out of social vices.

    Duke called on musicians across the country and in the Diaspora to strive to be role models.

    According to Duke, the Federal Government is determined to “strengthening the country’s entertainment industry with support from stars such as D’banj.”

    He urged him to use his popularity and talent to attract international partners to promote the country’s music industry.

  • ‘Industry strong to combat terrorism financing, money laundering’

    ‘Industry strong to combat terrorism financing, money laundering’

    The insurance industry has enhanced the country’s fight against terrorism financing and anti-money laundering because of the enforcement plan of the Nigerian Insurance Commission (NAICOM), The Nation has learnt.

    Earlier, the sector was described as one of the weakest link in the financial sector and lagging behind.

    But Managing Director, Forensic and Compliance Institute, Mr Nathaniel Cole, said the level of compliance in the sector has increased.

    Cole, who is a consultant for NAICOM and some insurance companies on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financial Terrorism (AML/CFT), said though the industry started the implementation after the banking industry, it has since improved.

    He, however, noted that there is still need for more improvement.

    On how the regulator has implemented the AML/CFT, Assistant Director (Inspectorate), NAICOM, Dr. Sam Onyeka, said the organisation has partnered with the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit to ensure full compliance with anti-money laundering laws in the insurance sector.

    Onyeka said: “The idea is to sensitise the insurance companies on how to migrate to the new platform for reporting money laundering issues to the NFIU.

    “Basically, we have three types of reports. We report on suspicious transactions, cash/currency transaction report and foreign transaction report. Before now, the reporting system had not been uniform because while some firms were using IT platforms, others were using the hard copy versions for their reports. What the commission plans to do now, is to synchronise the system so that every firm can be on the same platform”.

    To make this possible, he said the NFIU had to issue a guideline.

    This guideline explains how to use the IT platform established for this purpose. Our expectation is that companies should be able to report using the new IT platform by NFIU and it will also improve the level of compliance,” Onyeka said.

    The Director, NFIU, Juliet Ibekaku, said the responsibility to take specific and timely action to prevent the financial system from reputation and legal risks rested mainly with the insurance companies in the first instance because of the nature of services and products that it offered to customers and because of the type of clientele it served.

    “Some of the responsibilities of the insurance companies include identification of suspicious transactions and submission of all suspicious transactions to the NFIU in a prompt and timely manner in order to aid the combat of financial crimes, control the laundering of illicit money and prevent the use of the financial systems by terrorists,” she noted.