Economy
Highest Paid Official receives Less than N1m Salary in PenCom–Official
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) said that the highest paid official of the commission earns less than N1million a month,an official has said.
The Head, Corporate Communications of PenCom, Mr Abdulqadir Dahiru, made the statement available to newsmen on Saturday in Abuja.
He said, ”it was illogical and improbable that the least paid staffer receives a monthly salary of N3million.
”Dahiru said that it was earlier alleged that the least paid PenCom employee earns a salary of N3million per month.
”This has fueled all sorts of false allegations and unfair insinuations.
“ We understand that there is an element of mischief and possible blackmail on the commission’s compensation package.
“ From our understanding, it appears someone calculated all staff costs, including training, staff exit benefit scheme and employer’s pension contribution.
”He divided the total by the number of the commission’s employees and concluded that the least paid employee is on a monthly salary of ₦3 million.
“ There is a clear difference between staff cost and staff salaries,” he said.
Dahiru said that there was a false and misleading information on the compensation package of the commission being circulated in the traditional and social media.
He that said from the inception of the commission in 2004, the Federal Government mandated its board to adopt an employee compensation policy.
Dahiru stated that the policy favorably compared to comparative government bodies in the financial services sector,
He said that they include Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“ Section 25(2)(b) of the Pension Reform Act 2014 also empowers the board of the commission to fix the remuneration, allowances and benefits of the employees.
“ We made all these facts known in a recent submission to the House of Representatives Committee on Finance over the compensation package of the commission.
“ We also stated that the last compensation package review was done in 2017 with the approval of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).
“ No review has been done in the last five years and this has affected the ability of the commission to attract, hire and retain staff with competitive skills,” he said.
Dahiru urged the public to ”ignore the false and mischievous information on the staff compensation package.
”The commission has nothing to hide and will continue to run a transparent and an accountable system.” (NAN)
Economy
Investors Gain N183bn on NGX
The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) continued its bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining N183 billion.
Accordingly, the market capitalisation, which opened at N59.532 trillion, gained N184 billion or 0.31 per cent to close at N59.715 trillion.
The All-Share Index also added 0.31 per cent or 303 points, to settle at 98,509.
68, against 98,206. 97 recorded on Tuesday.Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 31.
74 per cent.Gains in Aradel Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank For Africa(UBA), Oando Plc, Nigerian Breweries among other advanced equities drove the market performance up.
Market breadth closed positive with 34 gainers and 17 losers.
On the gainers’ chart, Africa Prudential, Conoil and RT Briscoe led by 10 per cent each to close at N14.30, N352 and N2.42 per share, respectively.
Golden Guinea Breweries followed by 9.95 per cent to close at N7.18, while NEM Insurance rose by 9.74 per cent to close at N10.70 per share.
On the other hand, Julius Berger led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N155.25, Secure Electronic Technology Plc trailed by 9.52 per cent to close at 57k per share.
Multiverse lost 7.63 per cent to close at N5.45, Haldane McCall dropped 6.07 per cent to close at N4.95 and Honeywell Flour shed 5.62 per cent to close at N4.70 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 49.44 per cent.
A total of 320.10 million shares valued at N6.48 billion were exchanged in 7,943 deals, compared with 939.41 million shares valued at N12.81billion traded in 9,098 deals posted in the previous session.
Meanwhile, ETranzact led the activity chart in volume with 70.27 million shares, while Aradel led in value of deals worth N1.22 billion.(NAN)
Economy
Yuan Weakens to 7.1870 Against Dollar
The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the Yuan, weakened 22 pips to 7.1870 against the dollar on Monday.This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the Yuan is allowed to rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day.
The central parity rate of the Yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. (Xinhua/NAN)Economy
Bring Kaduna Refinery Back into Operation, Youth Group Urges NNPCL
Arewa Youths Initiative for Energy Reforms (AYIFER), has urged Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to do everything possible to bring Kaduna Refinery back into operation.
National Coordinator of the group, Mr Bashir Al’Amin, stated this in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.
Al’Amin specifically called on the Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mallam Mele Kyari, to do all within his powers to rejuvenate the refinery and bring it up to global standard.
He said that having delivered the Port Harcourt refinery, coupled with the establishment of Dangote Refinery in Lagos, attention should be shifted to Kaduna refinery for easy spread of petroleum products.
“We are calling on Malam Mele Kyari to expedite action on Kaduna refinery so we can be at par with other regions in the country.
“We equally beg the NNPCL to do professional work in rehabilitating the old refinery and deliver a standard and functional petrochemical refinery and not a blending plant.
“Kyari should resist any temptation that could make him do something that can jeopardise his good image,” he said.
Al’Amin said that since the extinction of groundnut pyramid and textiles in Kano State as well as PAN in Kaduna State and with the Kaduna refinery getting moribund, a lot of youths had lost their jobs.
According to him, all their hopes in the north are tied to the legacy refinery, expressing the hope that God would use Kyari to deliver it well and on time.
He said that the group was solidly behind NNPCL in prayer and would be ready to celebrate the company if its expectations were met. (NAN)