By Adedapo Adesanya

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Lagos Council will begin enforcement against pension defaulters under the Contributory Pension Scheme from June 1.

The NLC Lagos Council Chairperson, Mrs Funmi Sesi, disclosed this after an interactive session organised by PenCom in Lagos on Tuesday.

The session focused on the workings of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and sensitised labour leaders on pension compliance obligations under the Pension Reform Act.

Mrs Sesi condemned the continued failure of some government agencies and private employers to remit deducted pension contributions to Pension Fund Administrators.

“It is unacceptable that in spite of monthly deductions from workers’ salaries, some employers deliberately fail to remit the funds,” she said.

She warned that the practice endangered workers’ future and undermined their economic security after retirement.

“The non-remittance of pension contributions constitutes a gross violation of labour laws and abuse of workers’ trust,” Sesi stated.

She described a pension as a fundamental workers’ right, stressing that employees deserved to retire with dignity after years of productive service.

According to her, NLC and PenCom had received growing complaints from affected workers across public and private establishments in Lagos.

Mrs Sesi said the complaints prompted immediate monitoring and enforcement efforts in collaboration with PenCom and other relevant stakeholders.

She warned that the Congress would mobilise affiliate unions against employers refusing to comply with pension remittance obligations.

“If we need to purchase locks and keys just to ensure compliance and enforcement, we will apply that.

“We are the voice for the voiceless, the power for workers and the last hope of workers and pensioners,” Sesi said.

She further warned that defaulting employers risked public exposure and possible legal action for violating pension regulations.

Mrs Sesi urged employers to comply fully with pension laws to promote industrial harmony, social justice and national development.

On his part, PenCom Director-General, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, said the Contributory Pension Scheme guaranteed financial security for workers after retirement.

Ms Oloworaran, represented by Mr Ahmed Lawan, Head of Compliance and Enforcement Department, said retirees previously suffered severe hardship and delayed pension payments.

She noted that the CPS had improved pension administration but accused some employers of frustrating the scheme through non-remittance of deductions.

Ms Oloworaran warned ministries, departments, agencies, parastatals and private firms against denying workers their pension rights.

She stressed that retirement should not become painful after years of dedicated public and private service.

“Deducting workers’ pension contributions without remitting them is a criminal offence under the pension law,” she warned.

The PenCom chief encouraged affected workers to report defaulting organisations to the NLC for investigation and enforcement.

She assured workers that the identities of whistleblowers would remain protected where necessary during enforcement operations.

The official announced that PenCom and NLC would begin joint monitoring and enforcement exercises across Lagos from June.

“We will go after organisations involved in non-remittance of workers’ pension deductions in Lagos State,” she said.

She urged workers to cooperate by providing useful information to strengthen compliance efforts and protect employees’ retirement savings.

The NLC inaugurated a committee of task force commanders from affiliate unions to support enforcement operations statewide.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

After its launch in the United States in 2023, PayPal USD (PYUSD) is now available in 70 markets worldwide, including in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. providing stable purchasing power and enabling lower-cost global commerce for users.

In a statement on Wednesday, PayPal said this dollar-backed stablecoin enables users to send funds globally, with faster settlement and lower cost than traditional payment methods.

Users in newly supported markets can buy, hold, send, and receive PYUSD directly from their PayPal account. Additionally, eligible users can earn rewards on their PYUSD holdings, transfer funds to friends and family, whether on PayPal or to third-party digital wallets, and convert PYUSD to local currency when withdrawing funds for everyday spending.

Businesses that accept PYUSD can use proceeds in minutes rather than days or weeks, improving liquidity and reducing reliance on traditional settlement cycles. Faster access to funds can help businesses manage working capital, support cross-border operations, and participate in global commerce.

As global commerce becomes increasingly digital, individuals and businesses are looking for faster and more seamless ways to transact across borders. Stablecoins like PYUSD help power an inclusive, fast, lower-cost, global commerce system.

“Consumers and businesses around the world are looking for faster, more seamless ways to transact globally, and the current system still charges too much, takes too long, and settles on timelines that were designed for a different era,” the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto for PayPal, May Zabaneh, stated.

“We are working to change that. Enabling PYUSD in users’ accounts across 70 markets gives people faster access to their funds, lower-cost ways to send money across borders, and a more direct path to participating in the global economy, and that is what drives commerce forward for everyone,” Zabaneh added.

Also commenting, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Middle East and Africa at PayPal, Otto Williams, said, “Bringing PYUSD to Africa is about delivering tangible value to the people and businesses driving growth in these dynamic markets.

“Consumers gain a flexible, stable way to move funds faster, while businesses can streamline cross-border payments, improve settlement times, and unlock new growth opportunities. By increasing access to a regulated, USD-backed digital currency, we’re breaking down barriers and helping reduce friction in global commerce across the region.”

By Adedapo Adesanya

AVIAN, a Zurich-based industrial AI company building 24/7 thermal monitoring for the world’s most fire-prone facilities, has announced a $2.6 million pre-seed round, led by Founderful.

After two profitable bootstrapped years, the Zurich-based industrial AI company will accelerate deployment of its end-to-end thermal monitoring platform across sawmills, recycling, mining, chemical processing, oil and gas, and maritime operations – categories where fire and downtime risk are increasingly outpacing what insurers are willing to cover.

Industrial operators across Europe and North America are facing challenges, including fine dust, friction, electrical faults, and ageing equipment, which are pushing fire and downtime risk into territory that insurers will no longer underwrite at viable premiums. Sites that were insurable five years ago are being deemed too risky today.

AVIAN continuously monitors critical industrial equipment with thermal cameras, learning normal operating temperatures, and detecting early heat anomalies (thermal drift) to trigger smart, targeted alerts before failures or fire occur. It also generates automated predictive maintenance reports and backs the platform with 24/7 human support.

“Every alarm event is reviewed and fed back into the models, so detection keeps improving across the fleet and each new site benefits from what AVIAN has already learned in the field,” it said in a statement.

Over the last two years, AVIAN has prevented $50 million in damages from fires and equipment failures and is deployed in approximately 50 sites across 9 countries, including Germany and Switzerland.

“AVIAN has developed a solution to a problem which probably affects everyone in the industry directly. For us, it is a great partnership as it helps us make our operations much safer and improves the monitoring process. You will never be able to reduce the risk of fires to zero, but you can do everything you can to minimise the danger as much as possible – and AVIAN makes that possible simply and straightforwardly,” said Mr Ernest Schilliger, CEO of Schilliger Holz.

On his part, Mr Drew Hanover, Co-Founder and CTO of AVIAN, said, “We bootstrapped the business for two years because we wanted to build something operators actually trusted. We raised with Founderful for one reason: to keep doing that, in more markets, faster, without changing what we are. We spent zero minutes on a deck.”

The company was founded after one of Switzerland’s largest sawmills saw Mr Hanover’s robotics and AI research in the Swiss media and reached out about escalating fires, downtime, and rising insurance pressure. It currently has a 10-person team based in Zurich.

Mr Alex Stöckl, Partner at Founderful, added: “Within a year of incorporation, the team at AVIAN already served dozens of manufacturing businesses in the US and Europe, preventing real fire incidents daily. With their thermal-vision technology, there’s an immediate ROI and a new industrial intelligence layer that unlocks further use cases and value for customers over time – backing them to accelerate their go-to-market and product roadmap was a no-brainer.”