85,000 customers take home N175bn retirement benefit- Leadway PFA
Over 85,000 customers of Leadway Pensure PFA have been paid not less than N175 billion in retirement and terminal benefits since the inception of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in 2004, Leadway has disclosed.
Kelechi Nwabalogu, Team Lead, Customer Relationship Management Department of Leadway Pensure, told the press in an interview on the sidelines of a media training in Lagos.
Nwabalogu said that Leadway Pensure shareholders’ funds stood in excess of N8.6 billion, higher than the required N5 billion by the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
According to him, Leadway Pensure was formed by a consortium of three finance service organisations, namely Leadway Holdings Ltd., MBC Securities, and Prestige Assurance Plc.
He noted that in terms of quality assurance, PenCom had adjudged the PFA as one of the best in the industry, which signifies its quality service delivery and best-in-class corporate governance.
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FG to shut down online banks pestering debtors
The Federal Government, through its agency, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), has promised to delist any loan application company that disturbs, harasses, or threatens customers. It added that it would also ask Google to permanently delete such applications from their app store.
The government’s actions come as some of these digital companies continue to harass Nigerians, sending unsolicited text messages and sometimes life-threatening phone calls to customers and their family members or close contacts.
This measure is also the newest measure designed and implemented by the Federal Government to protect Nigerians from the activities of these digital money lenders.
There are 180 loan apps registered with the FCCPC to operate in the country. Google has also followed the FG in regulating the activities of these digital companies by insisting that only digital companies approved by the FCCPC would be allowed in its app store.
FG reports a drop in monthly fuel consumption by 18.5m litres after deregulation
The Federal Government said that the volume of petrol consumed decreased by an average of about 18.5 million litres daily in June after President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of fuel subsidy.
The Federal Government, however, through its agency, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority in Abuja, added on Sunday that the amount of petrol consumed across the country in the first half of 2023 was 11.26 billion litres.
It said through data obtained from its report that in the deregulation era of January 1 and May 28, 2023, petrol consumed nationwide was about 9.9 billion litres.
Centre lauds new executive orders, rejects informal sector VAT proposal
The Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE) has commended President Bola Tinubu for his intervention in the economy through the signing of recent executive orders.
Muda Yusuf, the founder of CPPE, said via a statement on Sunday in Lagos that the president’s move shows that he is sensitive to the predicament of the manufacturing sector.
The President had recently signed four executive orders, including deferring the commencement of the Finance Act 2023 to Sept. 1 and that of the Excise Tariff Amendment Order to Aug. 1.
He also suspended excise taxes on single-use plastics, import tax adjustment tariffs on some vehicles, and a five percent tax on telecommunications services and some locally manufactured goods.
According to Yusuf, the move will normalise policy implementation processes consistent with national tax policy and best practise principles.
Oil eases ahead of China, US data, but OPEC+ cuts support market
Crude oil prices fell in early Asian trade on Monday as investors exercised caution ahead of fresh economic data from top consumers in the United States and China this week, Reuters reported. This development happened as promises of supply cuts from top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia supported the market.
Accordingly, Brent crude futures fell 22 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $78.25 a barrel by 0107 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $73.57 a barrel, down 29 cents, or 0.4%.
Tina Teng, a market analyst at CMC Markets, told Reuters that “Oil traders may be cautious ahead of the U.S. CPI and China’s slew of economic data later this week.”
Teng, however, added that crude prices could rebound after OPEC+ announced plans to further reduce supply.
Reuters added that both benchmarks gained more than 4% last week to touch their highest marks since May, rising for a second straight week after the world’s biggest oil exporters, Saudi Arabia and Russia, pledged to deepen supply cuts in August.
