The Nation Newspaper

Tag: scheme

  • Oyo Exco members, others register for health insurance scheme

    Members of Oyo State Executive (Exco), the Speaker of the House of Assembly, political appointees and senior government officials are among the over 3,000 people who have enrolled for the recently launched Oyo State Health Insurance Scheme (OYSHIA).

    Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Toye Arulogun, spoke yesterday in Ibadan, the state capital, on the need for the residents to register under the scheme.

    The commissioner urged the public to take advantage of the registration for the scheme at the nearest government and accredited hospitals around them to benefit from what he called a cheap, affordable, accessible and unique health insurance programme.

    Arulogun said the Exco members were led for the registration by Deputy Governor Moses Adeyemo in demonstrating the commitment of the government to quality health care and health insurance scheme.

    The registration of Exco members was done at the Executive Chamber of the Governor’s Office.

    The commissioner said Speaker Michael Adeyemo registered when the House of Assembly team visited the Assembly complex.

    Ajimobi had registered at the formal launch of the scheme, as part of the sixth anniversary of his administration.

    Executive Secretary of OYSHIA, Dr Sola Akande, noted that the residents had  embraced the scheme, following the enquiries and warm reception for its team.

    He advised the residents  to register under the scheme, which he called the of first of its kind by any state government.

    Arulogun said the scheme covers almost all ailments, adding that it is free for expectant mothers  and children between the ages of one and five years.

    He added that the insurance scheme was carefully designed for the rich and the less privileged in the state.

  • CITN backs voluntary assets declaration scheme

    CITN backs voluntary assets declaration scheme

    The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) is fully in support of  Federal Government’s move to promote tax culture and expand the tax base, its President/ Chairman of Council, Cyril Ede has said.

    The support is coming based on the Executive Order signed by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, which provides a legal framework for the Ministry of Finance to set up the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme in collaboration with all 36 states of the federation.

    The scheme, he explained, was meant to bring more taxpayers into the tax net so as to enable them pay all outstanding taxes and the benefit to the tax payer is a waiver of interest and penalty as well as opportunity to pay taxes gradually up to a period of three years. The scheme will run for a nine-month period commencing from 1 July 2017.

    He recalled that the Institute has been in the vanguard of calling the government to declare tax amnesty wherein taxes due on incomes are demanded while the government forgoes the interest and penalties accruing. Such calls are contained in previous Annual tax conference communique and several advocacy efforts of the Institute with other bodies such as the National Association for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises among others.

    “Equally worthy of notice is the opening statement in the executive order acknowledging the duties of the State towards Citizens and their welfare.

    “This announcement, is therefore, a pointer to the fact that the government has a listening ear as it continues to aggregate the position of stakeholders in the tax space with respect to the broader and specific issues affecting poor voluntary tax compliance in the country,” he said.

  • Anchor unveils loss of employment scheme for staff

    Anchor unveils loss of employment scheme for staff

    Anchor Insurance Company Limited has launched the Anchor Loss of Employment Insurance Scheme to protect employees at Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja.

    Its Chairman, Dr. Elijah Akpan, said the product is aimed at providing  financial bulwark for those who lose their jobs.

    He said: “We have an opportunity and a responsibility to innovate and create an insurance scheme to protect employees’ employment income and in doing so to provide a measure of financial stability to millions of Nigerians who may be laid off in the most difficult economic time.  This is an opportunity and our responsibility as an organisation to provide peace of mind to families who may be left in the ditch without a job and nowhere else to turn to.”

    Chairperson of the occasion, Mrs. Nike Akande, praised the cover, adding that the Chamber had always supported the sector to promote best practices.

    Mrs Akande, who is President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “Anchor Loss of Employment Insurance Scheme is a welcome development as it seeks to protect employees from unforeseen circumstances, especially as it relates to job losses. This initiative is commendable and will go a long way to provide succor and wide cover for employees that are vulnerable and also stabilise the economic wellbeing of employees and indeed the country. It is a noble contribution to the economy of the country.”

    She enjoined reporters to ensure that the product was given adequate publicity.

    Senior Lecturer, Actuarial Science and Insurance, University of Lagos, Dr. Adebayo Obalola, said insurance cover was essential for everyone.

    He pointed out most people seek compensation for what their insurance does not cover, advising that the  public should understand the conditions of their insurance policy.

    The Managing Director of the company, Mayowa Adeduro, assured that the company would continue to introduce more unique products, like AnchorLoEIS.

  • Jubilee housing scheme: PPP to the rescue

    •Brains & Hammers bankrolls project

    Determined to continue with its housing initiative, but faced with scarce financial resources, the Lagos State Government has embraced the public-private partnership (PPP) alternative to bring the scheme to fruition.

    To this end, the state government, earlier in the week, finalised agreement with a development firm, Messers Brains & Hammers Limited, for the development of the 618 housing units at the Jubilee Estate in Iganmu. The project is designed to drive urban redevelopment in the area which will engender increased property values in the surrounding environment, thereby re-positioning the current site to one  highly sought after.

    Going by the cosmopolitan nature of Iganmu, the Jubille Housing Estate is estimated to create 3,590 direct jobs and about 7,000 indirect jobs in the area. Iganmu is dominated predominantly by the informal sector operators such as artisans, labourers, traders and food vendors.

    The estate, upon completion, will house 96 units of two-bedroom flats; 414 units of three-bedroom flats and 108 units of four-bedroom terrace houses. In addition to adequate parking facilities and excellent infrastructure, the development will include a well-equipped club house with a swimming pool, recreational areas and landscaping.

    Following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the development of the estate will begin next month, with a projected duration of 60 months from the receipt of all required approvals and permits.

    The Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Gbolahan Lawal, at the signing of the  MoU with Messrs Brains and Hammers Limited in his Alausa office, Ikeja, explained that the initiative, which was mooted by the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode as part of activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the creation of the state, will stand as a symbol of the celebration for many decades to come.

    Lawal disclosed that the housing deficit in the state stands at over three million. Therefore, he further explained, in order to bridge this gap, about 200,000 housing units must be delivered annually in the next five years. This requirement, he emphasised, cannot be delivered alone by the government; hence the need to inject private capital into housing delivery. To achieve this purpose, the state government has made land available to prospective private developers who have exhibited technical and financial capabilities for the delivery of affordable housing units.

    “The Jubilee Estate project is a PPP between the Lagos State Government, represented by the Ministry of Housing and IBILE Holdings Limited on one hand and Brains & Hammers, one of the foremost housing developers in the country on the other hand. The state stands to derive significant internally generated revenue through the taxes that will accrue from the sale of housing units and will also benefit from Land Use Charge and other statutory payments for property,” Lawal explained.

    The Chief Operating Officer of Brains & Hammers, Mr. Ibrahim Wushishi, explained that while the firm will be leveraging on the latest construction technology to deliver the project, he nonetheless expects challenges. “The potential challenges with the site are two-fold. Firstly, the terrain is challenging for construction but over the years Brains and Hammers has developed the skill and competence required to provide quality construction regardless of terrain. We are leveraging on the best available technology in the form of vibro-flotation which will be used to stabilise the soil and prepare it to take large structures safely and securely. The second challenge we envision is being able to keep up with demand for the housing units. Due to the strategic location, we have been inundated with demand. As we are only able to build a total of 618 housing units currently, we are saddled with the limited supply and very heavy demand,” he explained, adding that the firm will be working with Lafarge Africa, who are recognised as the largest producers of building materials globally, including working with some of the proprietary technology in the form of specialised and customised concrete

    He revealed that the estate will be serviced by a stand-alone sewage treatment system that will have the required capacity and functionality to meet the needs of the estate in an environmentally-friendly manner, without recourse to other facilities in the area. Similarly, there is a plan to provide an integrated power system for the estate. This encompasses dedicated electricity supply from the local power provider and on-site power generation which will be augmented by a solar-powered solution. Wushishi said this will ensure value for money for residents and ensure carbon emissions are kept to a minimum in line with the new order of climate change.

    While Lawal signed for the state government, Messrs Adebola Sheidu, chairman of Brains and Hammers and Abubakar Sheidu, company secretary, witnessed for the company.

  • ‘Increase retirees’ enrolment in contributory pension scheme’

    ‘Increase retirees’ enrolment in contributory pension scheme’

    The  Interim Chairman of the Management Committee of the First Guarantee Pensions Limited Comrade Issa Aremu  has called on the new management of the National Pension Commission (Pencom) to increase contributory pension scheme enrollment figure. He made this call  at a news conference in Abuja.

    Aremu, who is also the General Secretary of National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, noted that the current enrolment of less than seven million subscribers in the National Pension Commission was inadequate compared to the over 80 million  workers in the country.

    He  said: “The over six million workers already captured under the reform is commendable. But this number is a far cry from over 80 million potential work force in Nigeria.

    “The N6.5 trillion  funds contributed so far can hardly meet the future income adequacy of retirees, which underscores the need for an intensified effort on the part of the incoming leadership.”

    He stressed the need for all retirees under the scheme to be  paid their benefits as at when due.

    Aremu said under the previous management, pension assets grew from N2.9 trillion in 2012 to over N6.5 trillion in 2017, due to  the efforts of the past leadership of the Pencom.

    He recalled that Pencom set up the management with the mandate to superintend over the affairs of the Pension Fund Administrators (PFA) under the direct supervision of the commission after the former management was dissolved “for unsound corporate governance practices, which had significant adverse implication for the pension assets under the management of the PFA”.

  • Fishing cage: Bello to kick off pilot scheme

    FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has expressed determination to ensure the success of the Federal Government initiative on the development of fishing cage aqua culture in the Territory.

    The Minister gave this assurance when the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Economic Management Team, Mr. Dolapo Bright paid him a visit in his office.

    Bello expressed joy that the FCT is one of the five states chosen by the Federal Government for the development of the fishing cage culture project, adding that the programme is in tandem with the efforts of the Federal Government to diversify the economy and create more jobs.

    According to him, “FCT will be interested in the three levels of the project which include locating some of the fish cage aqua culture projects in accessible bodies of water for the purpose of serving astourist attractions; establishing some as economic empowerment projects for rural residents and developing others as entrepreneurship ventures for the youths of the Territory.

    “We are happy that the FCT has been selected to be among the states that would develop the pilot scheme of this project which we consider to be a very important focal point for job creation.”

    The Minister, who lamented the uncontrolled fishing activities going on at Jabi Lake, directed the Department of Fisheries to ensure proper monitoring and regulation of the net size used for fishing, in order not depopulate the water bodies.

    Earlier in his remarks, Mr. Dolapo Bright, stated that the fishing cage aqua culture project was part of the social investment programme of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. He said the project which would be financed by the World Bank is designed as part of the efforts at the diversification of the economy, job creation and producing fish for protein.

    He however decried the situation where the nation is spending over $1

    Billion dollars annually in the importation of fish when it has all it takes to be self-sufficient in the area.

  • Fashola raises hope on housing scheme

    Fashola raises hope on housing scheme

    Nigerians’ hope of owning  homes is looking up. This is because houses built under the Federal Housing Scheme will be allocated to all Nigerians, irrespective of their states of origin.

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, gave the assurance shortly after completing a tour of federal projects in Maiduguri, Borno State.

    “I prefer to use the word residents to indicate people who live or work in the states where the houses are built, rather than those who are indigenous to the state,’’ Fashola said, adding that the ultimate beneficiaries of the houses will be residents of the states in which the houses are built.

    He said the objective of the scheme is to deliver affordable houses to workers based on the National Housing Policy.

    “There is a National Housing Policy in place aimed at providing affordable housing, but there has been no programme in place to deliver the houses. That is what this programme is all about,” he said.

    The National Housing programme is built on a foundation that requires consulting stakeholders, by conducting, surveys so the stakeholders can take ownership of it. This, he explained, is why the ministry is consulting, in the hope that it will be able to carry along the stakeholders so that they can take ownership of the scheme.

    He said it is after this stage that the ministry can talk about affordability, pointing out that the housing scheme was also part of government multi-facet approach to economic development.

    “The programme is part of government efforts to create value chain economic activities, aimed at empowering Nigerians all over the country. Workers will be happy on site getting paid from contractors to take care of their families and patronising food and others,” he said.

    The minister also said the ministry was training artisans such as carpenters and bricklayers, among others, to be relevant technically.

  • Pensioners allege threat to contributory pension scheme

    Pensioners allege threat to contributory pension scheme

    The non-payment of the accrued right by the Federal Government may derail the contributory pension scheme, the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) has said.

    Speaking in Abuja at a meeting with  pensioners in the contributory pension scheme (CPS), the National President of NUP, Dr Abel Afolayan, said it was imperative that the pensioners were organised and unionised.

    Though Afolayan lauded the near-absence of fraud in the CPS since it began in 2004, he said the non-payment of the saving bond by the Federal Government could derail the scheme.

    He said: “There is no doubt that since the inception of the scheme, there was no single case of fraud in the last 10 years of its existence and many pensioners have been able to access their retirement benefits as and when due. But I have observed that in recent times, especially since October 2015 to date,  retirees under this scheme have not been able to access their retirement benefits as a result of the non-payment of the accrued right by the Federal Government through the retirement saving bond.”

    The NUP chief said pension has not been reviewed by the government even when workers’ salaries were reviewed which is in disobedience to Section 173(3) and Section 210(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 15 of 2014 Pension Reform act (as amended). These sections stipulate that pension shall be reviewed after every five years or whenever workers’ salaries are reviewed.

    Pointing out the inadequacies in the Pension Reform Act 2004, Afolayan identified abolition of gratuities which has now denied employees the opportunity of getting a lump sum when they retire.

    He also added that the National Pension Commission and Pension Fund Admini-strators (PFAs) were yet to specify how pensioners could benefit from returns on investment of their contributions, which has left pensioners the owners of the funds in hardship while PFAs are smiling to their banks.

    Afolayan further said the NUP appeared before the joint committee on budget and appropriation at the National Assembly and submitted a memorandum requesting over N183 billion to fund the accrued right of retirees from 2015 to date as part of efforts to ensure that contributory pensioners entitlements are not denied.

  • Beneficiaries praise BoI’s entrepreneurship scheme

    Beneficiaries praise BoI’s entrepreneurship scheme

    With the commencement of the second phase of the N10 billion Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) initiated by the Bank of Industry (BoI), beneficiaries have lauded the bank for assisting them to realise their entrepreneurial dream.

    YES aims to tackle youth unemployment in Nigeria by developing their capacity and funding their business ideasstart-ups – at concessionary interest rates.

    The scheme was launched by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelama, last year.

    He said the programme was designed to equip young people with skills and knowledge to be self-employed by starting and managing their own businesses.

    He noted that about 1.8 million young Nigerians enter the saturated labour market annually, adding that the new scheme is expected to create about 6,000 direct jobs and 30,000 indirect ones yearly.

    Some of the beneficiaries of the ,while sharing their experiences recently in Lagos, noted that the initiative has helped in addressing the rising unemployment concerns among youths.

  • Kwara invests N2.5b in scheme

    Kwara invests N2.5b in scheme

    Kwara State government has invested N2.5billion in small and medium scale enterprises (SME) micro-credit intervention scheme since it began in 2012, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has said.

    He spoke when he received executives of the Joint Tricycle Association at the Government House, Ilorin.

    The governor said the scheme was established to support small business owners as part of efforts to boost the informal sector.

    He said the government injected funds into the scheme to empower people and cushion the effects of recession.

    Ahmed said: “If any government intends to end recession, it must inject more money into circulation.

    “So, releasing that substantial amount into the economy is part of our plans and measures to deal with recession. We are ready to support our people, particularly those in the informal sector, to survive recession.”

    He said the government would assist the association through provision of tricycles for members at subsidised rates so they could contribute to the economy.

    “The government is planning to assist those in the informal sector to improve their businesses, to enable them pay taxes for development,” the governor added.

    He urged the association to support the government to promote peace, security and order.

    Ahmed advised members not to allow miscreants infiltrate them.

    The association Chairman, Prince Duro Oyebade, hailed the governor for his leadership and payment of salaries despite recession.