The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has disclosed that a total of 1,286 workers under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) withdrew N2.18 billion from the voluntary contributions in their retirement savings account (RSA) in the third quarter of 2020.

PenCom revealed this in its third-quarter 2020 report (July to September).

“During the quarter under review, the commission granted approval for withdrawal of the sum of N2.18 billion from the voluntary contribution accounts of 1,286 contributors,” part of the report reads.

The guidelines on voluntary contribution under the CPS stated that the main purpose of the Pension Reform Act 2014 is to introduce a pension system that is sustainable and has the capacity to achieve the ultimate goal of providing a stable, predictable and adequate source of retirement income for each employee in Nigeria.

It said, “The Pension Reform Act 2014 allows employees to make, voluntary contributions into their Retirement Savings Account, in addition to their mandatory pension contributions, with the sole aim of enhancing their retirement benefits.

1,286 Workers Withdraw N2.18bn From Pension Account In Q3

“Voluntary contributions under these guidelines shall be non-obligatory contributions made by any employee in the formal sector through the employer.

“Employees of organisations with less than three employees as well as self-employed persons as provided in Section 2 (3) of Pension Reform Act 2014 (PRA 2014) shall be covered under the guidelines for micro pensions.”

The commission said an employee must notify his employer in writing of his/her intention to make voluntary contributions and the amount to be deducted from his salary (not more than one-third of the monthly salary) and remitted as voluntary contributions.

In 2019, the Coalition for Whistleblowers Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) said it observed that “public officers and influential individuals were increasingly intolerant of critical reporting and fair comments by journalists.”

Several media outlets were also penalised on occasion for comments which were labeled anti-government.

Reporters Without Borders (French: Reporters sans frontières (RSF) says fifty journalists and media workers were killed in connection with their work in 2020, the majority in countries not at war.

According to RSF, the figure shows an increase in the targeting of reporters investigating organised crime, corruption or environmental issues, the watchdog said. The total number of journalists killed in 2020 was lower than the 53 reported in 2019, although RSF said fewer journalists worked in the field this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the first part of the report, published in December, RSF said it was concerned that measures imposed by governments to fight the pandemic had contributed to a “significant peak in violations of press freedom”.

It listed 387 jailed journalists, which it called “a historically high number”. Fourteen of those had been arrested in connection with their coverage of the coronavirus crisis, it said.

On Monday Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who sent dispatches from Wuhan during the chaotic initial stages of the outbreak, was jailed for four years for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”.

This war on the media is becoming more of a pandemic than anything else and is very much at play in Nigeria as well.

With the so-called fake news campaign and other plots to totally control and stifle the influence of the media, several journalists and media outlets have gotten their fingers burned.

In what civil society groups described as a gag on the media, the Federal Government recently charged journalists, including Jones Abiri and Omoyele Sowore, with treason and terrorism for engaging in social activism and practising Journalism. 

The governors of Cross River, Kaduna and Kano States also followed this trend by charging Agba Jalingo, Chidi Odinkalu and Nazir Ahmad respectively with offences of terrorism, cybercrime and criminal defamation. This happened in a society that should be practicing democracy, what is the colour nigeria’s democracy?

The draconian Social Media and Hate Speech Bills are further attempts to silence any form of opposition to anti-people policies. Several attempts have been made to pass these legislations which would end up eroding all forms of free speech by mainstream and social media.

Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution and several international instruments acceded to by Nigeria guarantee the right to press freedom as the media exercise their statutory duties.  Citizens also have the right to be informed in an unbiased manner.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), also guarantee the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media. Dissent is an integral part of democracy and should not be snuffed out in the guise of any emergency situation. Issues of defamation can be dealt with on a case to case basis without truncating citizens’ right to expression of opinions. It must be pointed out emphatically, now more than ever before that the right to free speech and press freedom should not be sacrificed on the altar of docility.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in its latest data, posted gross revenue of N222.3 billion in November which excludes statutory and obligatory deductions.

NNPC’s report shows that despite months of falling crude oil exports and prices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, November revenues recorded about 500 percent increase.

Although, many flow stations belonging to the NNPC still suffered shut-ins, due to unexpected circumstances and deliberate shutdowns for routine maintenance.

Documents presented by the NNPC, detailing its activities to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting of 15-16 December 2020, cited the Batan flow station which came down for six days starting on October 12 following staff non-payment of salaries protests, which led to the shutting-in of 240,000 barrels for the days the disruption persisted, while for Okono, routine production and maintenance operation led to the shut-in of a cumulative 82.281 barrels for the period.

Also on the 20th of October, an unscheduled downtime occurred on Yoho flow station due to low-pressure discharge on the pump, resulting in 210,000 total losses; that is, 30,000 barrels per day for the seven days that it lasted.

Erha, Agbami and Pennington also shut down for various reasons in October, leading to losses of 180,000, 392,000 and 558,000 barrels respectively for the periods the facilities were down.

Escravos was not left out as it lost 27,900 barrels of crude oil for the 31 days for which it was shut down for maintenance, while Clough Creek flow station in Brass also experienced shut-in as a result of leakage for 14 days.

Altogether, the nation lost about 1.882 million barrels of crude oil in October for the various times the facilities were down, including Bonny, Ugo Ocha, Antan, Okwori and Ima.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in its latest data, posted gross revenue of N222.3 billion in November which excludes statutory and obligatory deductions. NNPC’s report shows that despite months of falling crude oil exports and pri
NNPC
The Corporation in its summary of receipts and remittances due for November 2020, said gross revenue for JV crude oil was N197.3 billion, JV gas was N11.2 billion, miscellaneous was N13.7 billion, totalling N222.3 billion gross revenue for the month.

On JV contribution to the Federation Account, it said royalty paid was N27.8 billion, tax stood at N38.2 billion and profit was N9 billion with total JV contribution standing at N75.1 billion, plus PSC/miscellaneous of N13.7 billion, coming up to about N88.9 billion total contribution to the Federation Account for November.

Pipelines and management costs topped N3.67 billion in November, with a breakdown showing N2.1 billion for pipelines and other facilities’ repairs; N951.4 million for marine distribution and N551.7 million for strategic holding.

In all, the executive summary of activities for the period revealed that in terms of sales receipt, Nigeria exported crude oil worth N27.7 billion (about $73 million at the official exchange rate of N379 to a dollar).

The country got N11.2 billion from NLNG feedstock gas, equivalent of $29.6 million, while total oil and gas export revenue was N39 billion or about $102.9 million.

For deductions, JV cost recovery stood at N103 billion; crude oil and product losses was N1.28 billion with total deductions set at N108 billion and total available for payment and remittance standing at N114.3 billion or $52.4 million.

“The overall NNPC crude oil lifting of 12.21mbbls (export & domestic crude) in October 2020 recorded 38 per cent increase relative to the 8.79mbbls lifted in September 2020.

“Crude oil export revenue received in November amounted to $73.27 million equivalent to N27.78 billion. This represents a 500 per cent increase compared to October 2020, while domestic gas receipts in the month was N3.2 billion.

“Feedstock valued at $33.75 million was sold to NLNG during the period out of which $29.7 million was received during the month. The difference being MCA (Modified Carry Agreements) obligations, gas reconciliation and credit notes,” the document said.

NNPC also reported $22.8 million, being miscellaneous receipts, gas and ullage fees and interest income received in November 2020.

In October, figures from the completed cycle, which is usually delayed by one month, put oil export revenue received at $12.38 million, equivalent to N4.6 billion, one of the lowest receipts ever, representing a decrease of 85 per cent compared to receipts for September.