Stanbic IBTC Pension’s assets hit N1tr

Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited, a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA), has recorded over N1trillion worth of assets in 10 years, the Chief Executive of the company, Eric Fajemisin has said.

In a statement in Lagos, he said the company has emerged as Nigeria’s leading PFA with over one million retirement savings account holders under management.

He said the company is paying more than N2.1 billion to over 38,000 retirees monthly, adding that over N204 billion has been paid to retirees since they began operations in 2005.

He noted that their aim is to continue to set higher standards of service delivery and ensure that “our retirement savings account holders derive maximum value from their contributions,” Fajemisin said.

He said in line with its commitment to enriching customer experience, the company would continue to broaden and enhance its service channels for efficient service delivery. He said: “This is in fulfillment of its promise to provide quality and stress-free pension fund administration and financial management services to our clients and Nigerians wherever they may be. The cardinal value propositions of the PFA are participation, accessibility, quality, convenience and efficiency.

"The company can be reached via a number of service channels, including its over 217 branch offices spread across the country, its 24-hour multilingual contact centre, SMS, Stanbic IBTC ATMs, email, its mobile office, mobile app, and the Pension Guru online, Fajemisin said, adding that the PFA is committed to ensuring that clients are able to experience excellent and convenient service in any of its touch points.

“Our promise is to avail as many Nigerians as possible the opportunity to have quality pension fund administration and financial services, which will enable a life of comfort in retirement. To achieve this, we have continued to broaden our service channels so that we can reach as many Nigerians as possible and encourage participation in the Contributory Pension Scheme.”

He said that Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers will constantly explore additional avenues where Nigerians can conveniently access its services to meet their pension and retirement needs, adding that the company is backed by the necessary experience, strong and sound financial clout of the Standard Bank Group, to ensure efficiency in the management and safety of clients’ investments.

Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers is a subsidiary of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, a member of Standard Bank Group, a full service financial services group with a focus on three main business pillars – Corporate and Investment Banking, Personal and Business Banking and Wealth Management. Standard Bank Group is the largest African bank by assets and earnings and is rooted in Africa with strategic representation in 20 countries of the continent, including South Africa. Standard Bank has been in operation for over 153 years and is focused on building first-class, on-the-ground financial services organisations in chosen countries in Africa and connecting other selected emerging markets to Africa and to each other, applying sector expertise, particularly in natural resources, globally.

Source: The Nation

2016 Budget: Buhari earmarks N500bn to alleviate poverty

President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria

The need to pay attention to the common man and spend the resources of this country on the poor people explains why the Buhari presidency has proposed a N500bn estimate in the 2016 budget, even as more details on the 6 social protection plans were released.

In a news release issued Sunday the senior special assistant, media and publicity in the office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande disclosed that at no time in the nation’s budgetary history has the federal government made a specific vote of such volume for social welfare.

“Even economic historians now say that not only is the half a trillion Naira vote unprecedented, but it is also the greatest service ever done to the Nigerian state and people by any federal government administration,” Akande said.

Continuing he noted that the six social safety plans would reduce high levels of poverty and vulnerabilities, while also increasing Nigeria’s Human Development Index on the global UN rankings.

“The President’s vision is to increase investments in human capital to guarantee security for all, employment and improved well-being of the people,” the Vice President’s media aide added.

He disclosed that the presidency is aware that past attempts to address poverty have suffered because of insufficient political will, presence of various uncoordinated initiatives and poorly targeted beneficiaries among other factors, and is working to avoid the pitfalls.

The Senior Special Assistant said for the Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT, where one million extremely poor Nigeria will receive N5000 monthly in 2016, the money would be paid directly to the beneficiaries through a payment system that is being worked out.

He said World Bank and the Bill Gates Foundation are collaborating with the presidency to develop an efficient payment system. All together about N60B has been estimated to be paid out to extremely poor Nigerians. And the implementation of the programme starts once the budget is passed.

In fact, Akande disclosed, that there would also be direct payment in the Homegrown School Feeding Programme.

“In the case of the CCT, those one million poor Nigerians would be paid directly, while in the case of the Homegrown School Feeding, the suppliers of the meals to the primary school pupils would also be paid directly by the federal government. There would be no middle agents involved official or private,” according to Akande.

The media aide observed that the recipients of the CCT would meet the conditions of their children participating in immunization and school enrollment but also boost the economy as the money would boost consumer spending in the economy.

He stated that regarding the Homegrown School Feeding programme, the federal government will start a pilot scheme in selected states once the budget is passed. An estimate of over N96B being proposed to be spent on the Homegrown School Feeding this year.

The one-meal-a-day programme is also being supported by the Imperial College in the UK through one of its agencies Partnership for Child Development, PCD.

According to Akande, the Homegrown School Feeding will not only feed the children and help their learning significantly, but it would also boost the local economy of the states and the local communities.

The Buhari presidency has four other social investment plans, including the 500,000 direct jobs, where unemployed graduates would be trained and hired to become volunteer teachers in their communities while looking for jobs in their chosen profession.

There is also a Youth Employment plan that would take 370,000 non-graduates youths through skills acquisition and vocational training programmes. Like the teaching jobs, the selection of beneficiaries for this scheme would be done on states and FCT basis, opened to all Nigerians of different shades.

For small scale traders, artisans and market women, there is the Micro Credit scheme where one million Nigerians would get a one-time soft loan of N60,000 each through the Bank of Industry.

And finally there is the Free Education plan for students of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics, STEM where government will pay tuition for 100,000 students.

Source: PM News