The Nation Newspaper

Tag: remittance

  • ‘Remittance costs for Africa highest globally’

    ‘Remittance costs for Africa highest globally’

    TerraPay gets UK’s $20m loan to lower remittance cost

    The remittance costs for Nigeria and other countries in sub-Saharan African region remained the highest in the world. For instance, sending $200 to the region cost on average eight per cent in 2022, while the global average cost for the same amount stood at 6.2 per cent, according to the World Bank, the British International Investment (BII), the UK’s Development Finance Institution (DFI) and impact investor. While this is more than double the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of three per cent, these organisations have moved to help close the gap.

    Accordingly, BII has announced a $20 million senior secured loan to TerraPay, a cross-border payments processor with a key focus on remittance transfers into Africa, to reducing remittance costs which is critical to increasing capital flow into Africa and building financial resilience.

    Read Also: Alleged N1.6bn fraud: Ex-AGF, co-defendants seek adjournment to refund funds

    The $20 million funding for TerraPay, according to a statement made available to The Nation, will contribute towards the continuing lower cost, higher speed, improved reliability and accessibility of remittance transfers into the continent, enhancing financial inclusion.

    Through its network, TerraPay connects directly both traditional money transfer operators such as Western Union, and digital-only fintechs like Wise with some of the largest mobile money operators in Africa including M-Pesa, MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Mobile Money.

  • FAAC reports NNPC to NEC over missing $1.4b remittance

    FAAC reports NNPC to NEC over missing $1.4b remittance

    There is $1.486 billion generated from gas sales from the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) divested assets between January 2013 and December 2016?

    The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have not been able to trace the cash.

    According to documents in possession of The Nation, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) reported that the amount was paid into the Federation Account but a scrutiny of the account by FAAC showed that it was never paid.

    FAAC set up a sub-committee to investigate the issue and it was reported that “the same figure was captured by DPR for which the sum of $114.45 million was ascertained as Royalty. …NNPC/NPDC requested that the sum of $1.486 billion should be considered as part-payment for the Good and Valuable consideration of the NAOC divested assets that were valued at $1.540 billion, which the Ad-hoc Committee disagreed on the premise that there was need to verify the amount claimed by NNPC.”

    According to the report submitted to FAAC on December 16,  “the chairman (of the sub-committee) reported that out of the established NLNG Gas Sales value of $1,165,827,482.74 for the period under consideration, a total of $85,111,629.90 was transferred to MCA Escrow Account, leaving a balance of $1,080,715,852.94 as the amount paid into the Federation Account.”

    FAAC was also informed that NNPC paid another $126,753,615.34 into the federation account as NLNG-NAOC gas sales supplementary reconciliation invoices for the period, thus bringing the total amount paid by NNPC/NPDC to $1,207,469,468.28 and not $1,486,621,856.04 as earlier claimed by the oil giant.

    The sub-committee chairman reported that it “upheld that the amount established as earlier paid to the Federation Account be netted off the Good and Valuable Consideration of $1.540 billion, leaving outstanding Good and Valuable Consideration for the NAOC assets to stand at $322,530,531.72,” according to the document.

    FAAC, therefore, asked NNPC to expedite action on the reconciliation of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) to enable the sub-committee conclude its exercise.

    Also, the FAAC has confirmed that the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) is owing the Federation Account N1,313,915,561,688.39 (January 2010 to December 2016).

    To recover the debt, FAAC has reported NNPC to the National Economic Council (NEC), which is headed by the Vice President for its failure to remit NPDC’s indebtedness to the federation account.

    FAAC resolved to report NNPC to NEC in view of its refusal to fulfil its promise to make the money available for distribution during the last FAAC meeting.

    The Director, Home Finance, Federal Ministry of Finance, was directed to compile NNPC’s infractions for NEC for sanctions.

  • Nigeria’s diaspora remittances hit $35b

    Nigeria’s diaspora remittances hit $35b

    Nigerians living outside the country have so far remitted over $35 billion back to the country this year,  the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora matters, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said.

    Speaking in Abuja yesterday when she paid a courtesy visit to the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Mr Babatunde Fowler.

    According to Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa, “in 2016 they remitted $35 billion which is higher than what was remitted in 2015. This the highest in Africa and the third largest in the world.”

    The former House of Representatives member drew the attention of the FIRS team to tax concerns raised by Nigerians in diaspora. According to her, “there is a lot of talk about your organisation from diasporans concerning taxes-whether there will be tax incentives for Nigerians coming back home to engage in agriculture and other businesses; what are the plans and projects for them? Recently, they expressed concern over reports that we need to pay tax on our passports.”

    She noted that both the FIRS and her office needed to communicate with Nigerians in diaspora, stressing that “there should be collaboration between both offices to disseminate information in case they have questions or want answers.”

    Responding, Fowler clarified the passport issue. He said: “What we are saying is, if you want any immigration services either you want to renew your passport or get a new one, so long as you’re an adult and you’re making an income, you just have to show evidence of tax payment. There is no direct tax on passports; it’s just to show evidence of paying tax and of course, you’re entitled to all the services of government.

    “Nigerians abroad have 99.9 per cent tax compliance just because there are consequences for not paying taxes in those countries. If they decide to come as investors, we do have incentives for pioneer status or waivers and once they make their application to the Federal Ministry of Finance, it would be looked into and if it is in an area of pioneer status, I am sure it would be granted and we also do not believe in double taxation.”

    He also told Nigerians both at home and abroad that “you only pay tax on income of profit, so if you do not make profit, you do not pay tax so also, if you don’t have an income. It is only right that those who come to the country to do business and make profit pay tax.”

  • Reps probe Budget Office chief over N8b remittance

    Reps probe Budget Office chief over N8b remittance

    The Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Mr Ben Akabueze, is to be investigated by the House of Representatives over his directive to the Managing-Director of Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to remit N8 billion to the treasury.

    The House yesterday set up  an Ad-hoc committee to investigate this trend and report back within one week.

    The motion which came under matters of urgent national importance with the title: “Urgent need to curb a developing trend where the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation now directs Chief Executives of agencies of government to remit the treasury capital funds already released to them,”  was sponsored to investigate by a member, Hon. Agbedi Frederick.

    Frederick noted that the N8billion the Budget DG wanted FERMA to remit to the treasury was from the N10.3 billion already released to the agency for the execution of capital projects, leaving it with only N2.3 billion.

    He said due to the compelling need for FERMA to repair and maintain dilapidated roads across the country, the National Assembly approved N21,816,546,653 out of which only N10,399,549,201 was released in October to the agency for execution of some critical capital projects which included so many failed and bad roads across the country.

    He said: “FERMA has already prioritised its capital projects while it has advertised (them) in line with the procurement Act 2007 and that contractors desirous to work for the agency have spent hard earned monies to buy tender documents, which they are now bound to lose by the directive from Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation.

    “The funds already released to FERMA were part of the funds already appropriated for FERMA in the Appropriation Act of 2016, passed by parliament, which is already a law, and that any amendment to this law can only be carried out by the National Assembly.

    “The directive from the Director-General Budget Office of the Federation cannot be said to be virement as virement can only be appropriately approved by the National Assembly, which has not done so in this case.

  • ‘Late remittance of pension leads to loss of income’

    ‘Late remittance of pension leads to loss of income’

    Workers whose employers remit their pension contributions late stand the risk of losing their investment, the Regional Manager, Trustfund Pensions, Obafemi Arobadi, has  said.

    Arobadi, who spoke at the firm’s yearly employers/interactive session on regulatory compliance, said due to the late payment of their contributions to the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), most contributors might lose gains accruing to them.

    He said employers were expected to remit the monthly  contributions within seven days of paying their workers’salary.

    “When you don’t pay as at when due, your employee loses investment income. Seven days, that’s what the law says. We are organising this yearly event to update the employers as well as employees on the recent issues in the industry,” he said.

    About 50 per cent of the employers, he said, could be considered as complying with the seven days’ grace, pointing out that the most challenging in pension administration has been the non-remittance of workers’ contributors by the employers.

    He said most times, PFAs are reluctant to enforce the law because they do not want to endanger the workers’ interest, as such a measure could result in default companies being sealed up.

    He said: “Before exploring the law, we normally try to know the reason for non remittance. In the past, we’ve seen some, who were not complying and after our investigation, they paid all the outstanding. Should the premises be sealed, it will affect the workers.

    “Corporate governance issue has been our major challenge. For some employers,  it’s non-challance, why some employers see it as a burden, hence they fail to comply.”

    Arobadi said the non-payment of salaries in major states had made remittance in those states difficult, adding that the states normally remit when the backlog of salary areas were eventually paid. He said employers should ensure that the employees’pins were quoted correctly on the remittance schedule, as it would help in prompt update of members accounts.

    The Interactive session, which had Trustfund Pension Plc as the Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) and Zenith Pension Custodian as the Pension Fund Custodian (PFC), also highlighted some problems hindering access to the funds by the contributors after retirement.

    Speaking on behalf of the Custodian, Daniel Onatoye said the new scheme, backed by the Pension Reform Act, 2014, had been a success story. According to him, it is unlike the old scheme, which had no fund set aside to pay workers after retirement.

    He, however, cautioned against companies outside the scheme,  lodging their workers’contribution in the bank, as most of them would not be able to give appropriate information, should there be any error at the time of payment.

  • NLC makes case for workers’ pension remittance

    The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday urged the management of the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) to ensure prompt remittance of the workers’ Contributory Pension Fund (CPS) to their Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).

    Speaking with reporters in Abuja during the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), the NLC President, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, represented by the Acting Secretary-General, Comrade Chris Uyot, said it was surprising that the National Assembly, which enacted the Pension Law in 2004, was in default of staff pension remittance.

    Said he: “We are surprised and shocked that the management of the National Assembly has not been complying with the Pension Act 2004. The Director of Personnel has explained that the workers have not come up with their PFAs and some came with double PFAs.

    “Well, I find it difficult to believe this. I think those who made the law should also respect it. I believe the management of the National Assembly should take a serious look at this issue and ensure that the remittance of the workers’ pension is made to the PFAs as and when due.”

    The PASAN President, Comrade Fatai Jimoh, sought for the prompt remittance of the deducted pension funds to the pension managers.

    He implored the leadership of the legislative arm to facilitate the payment of housing and outfit allowances in bulk once in a year, rather than in piecemeal, spread monthly.

     

     

     

  • Tax remittance: Nine bank Chiefs beg Reps

    Tax remittance: Nine bank Chiefs beg Reps

    Against the threat of being arrested, nine bank chiefs that failed to honour the invitation of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on Monday, turned up yesterday and apologised.

    The Committee however, lashed out at one of the bridged banks for sending an officer below the rank of an Executive Director. The bank’s representative, Peter Oyedele, Head, Collection was walked out of the meeting.

    The Bank’s Chief Executive Officer was given 24 hours to present himself before the Committee.

    The Committee was investigating 21 banks over collected tax remittances and compliance with tax payment lashed out at the Bank chiefs for treating invitation by the House of Representatives with levity.

    Chairman of the Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin said: “We take exception to parliamentary invitation being treated with levity. We don’t think there is anything more important to the CEOs than what the Committee is doing on the economy on behalf of Nigerian people”.

    Jibrin also allayed the fears of the bank Chiefs over the exercise, noting that the investigation would turn out to be beneficial to the banking sector through proactive legislations. .

    “It may even turn out that the banks may be refunded over their remittances by the time we conclude analysing the data at out disposal.

    “In the final analysis, the sector would be better for it as our intention is to strengthen the sector,” he added.

    Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Ayobami Ogunnisi, who said the exercise was about shoring up the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the government against perpetual budget deficit, noted that Chief Executives should not wait for threat of arrest before honouring lawmakers’ invitations.

    “All we are doing is to improve our revenue base and make sure we go over this yearly budget deficit rituals. The banks are rated so high and we believe that they can help us because of their contribution to the economy”.

    Godwin Emefiele, the Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) apologised for non-appearance of the bank chiefs, saying it was not deliberate, citing communication gap as being responsible.

    While he promised that such would not occur again, Emefiele assured that his bank as well as his colleagues would fully cooperate with the Committee in the assignment.

    “We will cooperate fully and give our counsel where necessary to achieve the purpose of this exercise, moving our economy forward,” he said.

    Other bank chiefs, in their responses towed the same line with the Zenith Bank boss with promises of cooperating with the Committee.

    The bank chiefs were given additional information to the template earlier given to them, which they would defend between June 3rd and 7th, 2013.

    CEOs of Zenith Bank, Heritage Bank and Keystone Bank and Executive Directors of five others were present at the session.

     

  • Pension remittance: Recovery agents go after 8,584 defaulting firms

    The National Pension Commission (PenCoM) has made good its threat of recovering workers’pension deductions withheld by some employers.

    It has asked Recovery Agents to collect all outstanding remitances. from defaulting firms. The exercise has recorded progress, according to the Chairman of the Pension Operators of Nigeria (PenOp), Mr Dave Udeanu.

    Udeanu told The Nation that the Recovery Agents have visited 8,584 of 15,760 defaulting firms.

    He said:“Recovery agents appointed by the National Pension Commission to go after companies, or organisations that failed to remit their employees’ contributions to Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), have made progress by visiting 8,584 of such firms and recovered various amounts from some of them.”

    He said as at the end of January, the liabilities from the firms visited stood at N2.5 billion. Demand notices have been sent to them; the accounts of the Pension Fund Custodians to remit the monies and how the remitances should be made have been forwarded to them.”

    The Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004 made it compulsory for companies seeking government business to present certificates of compliance, which indicates that they are meeting the regulation on staff pension contributions.

    The PRA 2004 also mandates employers with minimum of five staff to subscribe to the new pension scheme.

    To ensure enforcement of the law, the commission said employers who fail to remit their pension contributions would pay two per cent surcharge, two weeks after deductions have been made by them.

    PenCom noted that employers are to remit employees contributions not later than seven working days from the day salary is paid, adding that if the default persists after three months, one per cent of the outstanding would be paid to the commission.

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    The Organised Private Sector (OPS) has taken over the lead in pension contributions from the public sector which has been at the fore-front since 2004 when the contributory scheme became operational.

    Udeanu said the OPS has performed tremendously well, as organisations in the sector are complying with the scheme by remitting their contributions promptly.

    He said: “The organised private sector has done very well. Often time, we talk of the public sector, but we should give credit to the private sector, for most of them treat pension as they treat salary. It is important to encourage them for they have turned out to be the strongest pillar or supporters of the scheme. The private sector has overtaken the public sector in terms of registration of contributors.”

    Udeanu also disclosed that as part of efforts aimed deepening the sector, pension operators and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) are working out ways of integrating the over 40 million workers in the informal sector into the scheme. He noted that the framework to that effect will soon be finalised.

    He said PenCom will also before the end of the first quarter of this year, incorporate a multi-fund structure for Retirement Saving Accounts (RSA) funds, into the amended investment guidelines.

    “The decision to introduce the multi-fund structure in the first quarter of 2013` is to allow enough time for public education and sensitisation by the commission and also allow operators enough time to be ready to implement the structure.

    “The multi-fund would be primarily differentiated by their overall exposure to variable income instruments and a contributor’s choice of funds may be limited based on the age of the contributor. Also the multi-fund structure would likely also allow for the introduction of a non-interest or ethical fund,” he said.

    The Managing Director, Legacy Pension Managers Limited, Mr Misbahu Yola, said most of the big companies treat pension deduction and remittance the same way they treat salaries. This is what it is supposed to be, he said; adding that it is important to encourage them.

    He said when the scheme started initially, employers felt it was another burden on them but that now most of them understand what they government meant by taking that decision.

    He, however, said many employers are not still complying.