Compel FG to pay us N121billion benefits, pensioners tell court

Yetunde Ayobami Ojo 

The claimants, pensioners who retired at various times between 1981 and 2002 from the Federal Civil Service in one capacity or the other gave their respective power of attorney to first claimant, Mr. Gabriel O. Obahiagbon.

For allegedly deducting N121 billion from their wages, 29 pensioners have asked the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NIC), Lagos to order the federal government and seven others to pay them their benefits. The claimants, pensioners who retired at various times between 1981 and 2002 from the Federal Civil Service in one capacity or the other gave their respective power of attorney to first claimant, Mr. Gabriel O. Obahiagbon.
They filed the suit against the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Minister of Finance, Minister of Establishments and Management Service, the Head of Service of the Federation, the Accountant General of the Federation, the Director-General, National Pension Commission, Pension Transitional Arrangement Department Federal Civil service and Attorney-General and Minister for Justice of the Federation as first to eight defendants respectively.
However, Obahiagbon in his testimony before Justice Kanyip, told court that when he and others were in service, there were several undeclared amounts held back from their negotiated wages by the defendants and lodged in Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) for pension payment in future.
Led- in- evidence by the claimants counsel, Mr Adekunle Oyesanya (SAN), Obahigbon said:” Due to the arrangement whereby part of our wages were held back, the pension scheme was dubbed ‘non-contributory’ such that the salary structure published from time to time reflected only the Take Home Pay (THP) of the affected civil servant without revealing their contribution and Federal Governments Contribution.
“This practice continued until the promulgation of the Pension Reform Act in 2004 when a new scheme was introduced for those still in service while my group of pensioners and I who retired well before 2004 and who were in the non contributory pension scheme continue to labour under the old pension regime.”
He therefore tendered claimant written statement on oath deposed to by Obahiagbon dated March 11,2016 and was admitted as exhibit.Also, in their statement of claim, they want, “an order that the aborted investment income on the failed investment on the capital base of each of the claimants, as particularised be paid to them with the accruing interest at the rate of 20 percent per annum from date of filling till judgment and thereafter at 10 percent per annum pending final liquidation.
They also want general, exemplary and aggravated damages in the sum of N1billion for the defendants willful failure, neglect and or refusal to pay the claimants their respective pensions at and when due and for failure to perform their functions and duties as regards pension matters under various law regulating pensions in Nigeria thus causing untold hardship and suffering to him and others.
However, he was cross examined by the counsel to the 1 and 8 defendants, Mr Eloka J. Okoye, 7th defendant counsel, Mr Nenfort Amos and 6th defendant counsel, Mr Anene A. Maduechesi. Hearing continues June 30.

Guardian

Woman keeps mother's dead body in freezer for ten years so she can claim her £1,700-a-month pension

The corpse of a 90-year-old woman was found in the switched off appliance at the end of her daughter's garden after detectives began probing alleged social security fraud

ByPeter Allen

Police have evidence that the suspect had put her own picture on her mother’s driving licence (Photo: Getty)

A woman kept her dead mother hidden in a freezer for ten years so she could continue to claim an old age pension equivalent to £1700-a-month, prosecutors revealed today.
The 90-year-old' corpse was found after detectives started investigating the alleged social security fraudster, who is 55 and cannot be named for legal reasons.
She was living in a detached house in the picturesque village of Horsarrieu, close to Pau, in South West France, with her mother’s remains at the end of the garden.
‘They were hidden in a freezer, and there had been no report of the mother’s death,’ said a prosecuting source in nearby Mont-de-Marsan, capital of the Landes department.

The freezer was found at the end of the garden of the woman's property

‘The freezer was not connected to the electricity supply going into the house. It was just a hiding place,’ the source added.
The suspect was first interviewed by gendarmes on Tuesday, and claimed that her mother had died seven years ago.
Investigators noticed, however, that there had been no medical fees claimed by the mother since 2007, suggesting that the time of death was more likely to be a decade ago.
All the mother’s benefits arrangements, including drawing an old age pension, continued as normal throughout that time.

At the time of death, the pair were living some 200 miles away, close to Toulouse, which means that the woman would have transported the corpse in secret when they moved to Horsarrieu in July 2016.
Police have evidence that the suspect had put her own picture on her mother’s driving licence – an offence that led to a search of the property. The corpse was found wrapped in a tarpaulin, with old clothes used to hide it.
An autopsy was due to be held on Wednesday to try to establish whether the mother had died of natural causes, or whether foul play was involved.

Culled from Mirror pension

How the general election result will affect your holiday spending money and the value of your pension

Economists have forecast just what might happen to the value of the pound and stock markets, depending on which party clinches victory

ByGraham Hiscott

• 
  

The cost of your summer break abroad could be impacted by the election result (Photo: Getty Images Europe)

The outcome of the general election could impact everything from your pension to your holiday spending money this summer.
The City is poised to react to the outcome, with many traders working through the night as the results come in.
The earliest reaction will come from the value of the pound against other currencies.

The election result could mean Brits have more, or less, to spend this summer abroad (Photo: Getty Images)

Sterling has already tumbled from $1.50 against the dollar before last June's Brexit vote.
It's now around $1.29 but is likely to rise - or fall - depending on the outcome of the election.
Sterling jumped 1.5% immediately after the Tories won the election in 1992, and by 2% in 2015.
Economist Samuel Tombs reckons a Conservative landslide victory this time around will see sterling edge past $1.30.
The small increase, especially if the pound strengthens against the euro too, will boost the spending money of Brits holidaying abroad.
That would come as a timely relief for millions preparing for their sunshine breaks.
The weak pound since last year has pushed up the cost of a beer in the sun and meals overseas.
It would also, the longer the pound keeps rising, begin the soften the blow of higher import prices.
Sterling's weakness has pushed up the cost of goods we buy from abroad - one big reason inflation has jumped to 2.7%.
But not everyone is unhappy about the pound's plunge.
UK companies selling their goods overseas have been given a boost, as it makes their products cheaper. A stronger pound will have the opposite affect.

A big Tory majority could trigger a rise in the pound but a small victory could lead to a fall (Photo: Getty Images Europe)

Economists are divided on how the pound will react to other election outcomes.
Mr Tombs, from Pantheon Macroeconomics, thinks a minority Tory government would “hit sterling hardest.”
He reckons a surprise Labour victory would boost sterling “due to the party’s softer Brexit stance.”
He said: "We think that sterling would jump to $1.32 overnight and that it would appreciate further over the following months as a soft Brexit became the most likely outcome."

A Labour coalition led by Jeremy Corbyn could see sterling rise (Photo: AFP)

The chance of a Labour-led coalition could also result in the pound rising, he said.
Others are less sure.
Tom Stevenson, investment director for personal investing at Fidelity International, thinks the pound would fall after a Labour victory.
This could lead to an initial jump in the FTSE 100.
But Mr Stevenson cautioned: “The implementation of the most radically socialist agenda since Michael Foot’s 1983 ‘suicide note’ would explicitly target corporate earnings and is likely to lead to a severe market correction.”
He added: “The key to understanding the impact of the election will be the pound.”

Share price fluctuations have a impact on pension funds on which millions of people depend (Photo: Getty)

All eyes will also be on how stock markets react.
The FTSE 100 has risen more than 350 points since April 18th, when Theresa May announced the snap election.
That is equivalent to £90billion being added to the value of the 100 companies on it.
The increase has been largely driven by the fall in the pound since last June’s Brexit vote, plus events abroad.
In contrast, polls for the election seems to have had little impact.
Laith Khalaf, a senior analyst at broker Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “It’s probably that the markets are deciding not to trust the polls any more.
“It is also a reflection that the markets expected the status quo - a Tory government - to remain, although you can quibble about the strength of that.”
However, Mr Khalaf reckons a Labour victory - or a hung parliament - would not result in stock markets tumbling.
“I think you would see a market reaction that would be negative, with share prices in UK focused companies falling the most,” he said.
“But I think a lot of that will be offset by a fall in the pound which, in turn, will put upward pressure on the shares of companies with big overseas earnings.”

Mirror Pension

The tragic failure of pensions system -Patrick Dele Cole

  

There is a big hole in the Pension Fund, and now the government has relaxed rules for the use of Pension Funds. Should BVN not be sufficient? Many pensioners have committed suicide; even so, pensioners still do not receive their money.

The administration of pensions in Nigeria is a national disgrace. Ever so often the pension administrators insist on a verification. All Nigerians know someone who has not been paid his or her pensions for years – some for over 10 years, despite repeated verifications. It is common to see very old, infirm sick people carried for verification in the hot sun, waiting for hours, without food or drink. These people are carried daily to these exercises, many faint, others get more infirm.
The centres are usually in the cities when most pensioners have retired to their villages. A former Director of Ministry of Agriculture has not been paid his pension for over 10 years. Yet we have multiple biometric identification systems – GSM, voter’s registration, Bank Verification Number (BVN), Driving Licence biometrics, National Identity Cards, etc. There are many permanent secretaries, ambassadors, clerks, nurses, teachers, local government employees, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) retirees, Airways staffs, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) retired officials, Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) workers, etc. who have not been paid their pensions. It would seem that many of these people would never receive their pensions. We ought to be able to capture everybody under some identity system and pensions paid to them through their bank verification numbers without the necessity of this soul destroying verification. The truth may be that the pension purse has been compromised and money diverted by various authorities who use the verification to escape their responsibilities. Some of the evidence that the verification officials ask for one simply ridiculous – original letters of employment, evidence of end of service and so on. I have no doubt that apart from the large-scale theft of these funds by various entities, including the Unions, the Pension burden is simply too large to be borne. But this should not stop collating the evidence through an amalgamation of our entire databases and for the government and companies to meet their pension obligation. Need for coordination of National or State Policy on Pensions cannot be over-emphasized.
There are historical problems with Nigerian Pensions. Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN), which became Nigeria Electricity and Power Authority (NEPA), Nigeria Coal Corporation, Nigerian Railways, Nigeria Airways and so on, still have pensioners who have not been paid for a long time. We must find answers to pay these pensioners because it is unethical for pensioners not to be paid.
The verification powers and system are unfair: people are too old to be carted all over for a hopeless exercise when all knows that the money will never reach the pensioners. This is ethically unjustifiable.
There is a big hole in the Pension Fund, and now the government has relaxed rules for the use of Pension Funds. Should BVN not be sufficient? Many pensioners have committed suicide; even so, pensioners still do not receive their money.
Two years ago, a director of pension in the old system raided the funds and took several billion naira but nothing happened. He took billions but was only fined N750, 000! This is intolerable.
Compare the above to what happened in the United Kingdom (UK) when Philip Green who had raided the Pension Fund by £353 million pounds. He had to refund all that money for British Home Stores pensioners, who worked for him as owner of British Home Stores.
The Daily Mirror Pension fund was similarly raided by Robert Maxwell. He was found dead on his yacht. Why is it that a simple problem like prompt and proper payment of pension should be so complicated?
Flour Mills still owe the Seamen Union over 50 per cent of their pension rights. One part of NNPC – PEF – boast of most modern payment scheme, having staff at every important juncture of the white spirits system – yet they do not have a comparable system in pension administration. The rest are as bad as or worse than NNPC. In the military or civil service – large pensions provisions have disappeared when funded; other pension funds had not been funded at all. Now governors, members of the National and State Assemblies want pensions. Governors have voted pensions for themselves, through the Houses of Assembly they control, the most generous if not scandalous pension packet – they go with all benefits they had as governors, same salary and staff accompaniment, houses built for them at government expenses in Abuja, their hometown and/or in the state capitals in which they served. This is a scandal that the governing systems must stop.

A major uncertainty and fear exist that the problem of pensions will eventually turn up to be a big black hole – so chaotic is its present lack of direction, effectiveness and compliance. A very large sum of money is collected monthly from workers and intended to go to pension funds and managers. But the record-keeping is pretty poor, disbursement chaotic and investment of pensions funds by the managers questionable and irresponsible. For example, what happens to a pension manager who has recklessly invested funds or put them in ventures which are self-serving? Then there is the problem of the yet unsolved historical pension claims of civil servants, workers in parastatals and even in private industry? The management of the National Provident Fund was opaque and its coffers had countless leakages.
Nigeria is not the only country with pensioners. Others have solved these problems by better accountability; better verification methods. For example, pensions and other related benefits are paid in the United Kingdom mainly through the post office. If we had post offices in Nigeria, they are in a sorry state of decay and thousands have closed shops. Perhaps reviving the post offices which served as payment centres for a variety of purposes may be an answer instead of the Communications Minister closing the post offices and talking about ICT Universities and commercial development of post office sites for businesses unrelated to the core job of making communication available as they used to be before throughout the country through post offices. Countries that we blindly ape in the new digital universe still have the two essential services as the key to their communications – landlines telephone and postal services everywhere in their countries. We used to send money everywhere in Nigeria through money orders and letters from post offices. We should be able to pay our pensioners if our post offices were working.

Guardian

ome / Cover / National / 38 years after, ABS, ASPC pensioners get N700m

38 years after, ABS, ASPC pensioners get N700m

Obinna Odogwu, Ekwulobia

  Anambra State government has mapped out N700 million to offset the accumulated pension and gratuity for the two state media parastatals: Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) and the Anambra State Printing Cooperation, publishers of National Light.
Commissioner for Information and Communication Strategy, Ogbuefi Tony Nnacheta,disclosed this during a press briefing held at the Situation Room of the Information Ministry, Udorji Secretariat, Awka.
He said the gesture was in line with Governor Willie Obiano’s policy to carter for the welfare of the people and reduce their pains, especially in the current economic situation.
Nnacheta regretted that National Light Newspapers and ABS had suffered severely without pension and gratuities for more than 38 years with the retirees strength of 158 and 227, respectively, making a total of 385.
The commissioner said the payment would commence by end of June, 2017, through May 2018, promising to continue to ensure adequate sustainability.
He stated that the state government had assured to pay all accumulated debt owed pensioners and further provide them with adequate logistics to thrive

sun

Police foil new terror plot as they arrest three people planning attack

Richard Hartley-Parkinson

Armed police carried out raids in east London this morning (Picture: Getty Images)

Police have arrested three people on terror charges, but they have said they are not linked to the London Bridge attack.
Two men, aged 34 and 37, were taken into custody at separate addresses in Newham, east London, while a third, aged 33, was arrested in Waltham Forest.

All three were detained on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism offences and have been taken for questioning at a south London police station.
They were taken into custody by detectives from the Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command with support from armed police officers.
The operation took place overnight and searches are ongoing at the properties, the force said.
Met Police said: ‘All three were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism offences under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
‘They have been taken into custody at a south London police station and are detained under the Terrorism Act.’
‘Searches at the addresses are ongoing.’
In a separate investigation, counter-terror police made a series of arrests in Ilford, east London, on Wednesday night in connection with the London Bridge atrocity.
Eight people were killed and dozens injured when three men launched a van and knife rampage on Saturday night.
All three attackers were shot dead by police.

Culled from Metro

Millions of couples missing out on important tax breaks for this one reason - and over 65s are the worst hit

Over 300,000 people aged over 65 are now living together unmarried in the UK - but in the eyes of the law, you can't reap the tax free perks unless you get hitched

ByVicky Shaw

• 
  

Experts say we're stuck in a 1940s system

A "dramatic" increase in the number of older cohabiting couples could lead to more people missing out on valuable tax breaks and state pension rights, analysis by an insurer suggests.

Royal London found that despite a growing trend of over-65s living with a partner as an unmarried couple, perhaps after previously being widowed or divorced, many tax and benefits rules still treat cohabiting couples as "second class citizens".

While the rate of cohabitation generally has risen by around one third since the turn of the century, the rate among those over state pension age has trebled, according to Royal London.

Figues show a rise in the number of over 65s that are living together unmarried (Photo: Getty)

It said that over 300,000 people aged over 65 are now living together as part of an unmarried couple across England and Wales.

Royal London's analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures for England and Wales covering the period 2002 to 2015 found the proportion of adults who were cohabiting rose by about one third over the period from 7.5% to 10%.

The proportion of people over state pension age who were cohabiting trebled over the same period. The rate for those aged 65 to 69 rose from 1.5% to 4.5%, and the rate for those aged 70 and over rose from 0.7% to 2.3%.

Rising numbers of couples cohabiting

Source: Royal London

'Tax breaks apply only to married couples'

In the eyes of the law, most tax advantages only apply to legally married couples (Photo: Getty)

Royal London personal finance specialist, Helen Morrissey, said: "With each passing year more and more people are choosing to live together as couples, and it is amongst those over pension age where the growth has been the most dramatic.

"But individuals need to be aware that there are many tax breaks and state pension advantages which apply only to married couples.

"For example, the family of a cohabiting couple could face an extra £70,000 inheritance tax bill compared with the heirs of a married couple.

"Similarly, cohabiting couples are excluded from income tax breaks worth hundreds of pounds a year and from the rights to inherit a state pension when one partner dies."

She said there should be a review of whether the tax and benefit system needs to be updated "to reflect the world in which we now live, not the world of the 1940s".

Royal London said the system is still largely based around people who are either single and living alone or living as a married couple.

It said that, for example, married couples enjoy significant inheritance tax benefits over their cohabiting counterparts.

They can pass wealth to their surviving spouse free of inheritance tax and they can also transfer any unused portion of their inheritance tax threshold to their spouse - but neither of these options is available to cohabiting couples.

Married couples also have advantages when it comes to income tax, with some special tax allowances for married couples only .

Meanwhile, many current pensioners reached state pension age before the new state pension was introduced in 2016.

They will be covered by the old state pension system, under which there were certain rights to an improved state pension following the death of a spouse, which do not apply to cohabiting couples.

Under this system, an older married woman could see her state pension boosted by around £2,500 per year following the death of her husband, but a cohabiting partner would miss out, Royal London said.

Mirror pension

Financial Investor urges review of Contributory Pension Scheme

A financial investor, Mr Tunji Busari, has urged the Federal Government to urgently review the nation’s contributory pension scheme, saying it was not meeting the desires of the contributors.
Busari told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos the government should see how the pension fund could be restructured to allow workers enjoy more of the fruits of their labour.
According to him, the entire Pension Administration Law of 2014 is not explicit enough on the profits made through investments by the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).
He spoke to NAN against the backdrop of the plan by Kosofe Local Government and Entreprenovate Nigeria in partnerships with Leadway Assurance and MOYDAK Construction to sensitise civil servants on investments.
NAN reports that the theme of the sensitisation programme which will hold from June 22 to June 23, at the council’s headquarters is “Life after Retirement and Life as a Self-Employed 2017’’.
Busari, a lawyer, claimed that he had conducted researches on the pension administration and found some lacuna on the investments and who should be the beneficiary of the profits.
“I want to categorically inform the public, especially the workers that the newly endorsed pension scheme that we are operating in Nigeria is nothing but a fraud.
“I have conducted researches regarding the scheme and I discovered that every month every worker participating in the scheme has an amount deducted from his salary and placed in a pool of money for re-investment.
“Some money are deducted overtime like 10 to 30 years and whatever is been deducted will be given back to the worker as savings at the expiration of his years of service.
“I mean to say no to this exploitation, it shouldn’t be that way, those contributing the money should not be savers, but investors or partners to the business their money is invested in,’’ he said.
Busari said that money deducted from the workers on the account of pension scheme were being channelled to a viable investments which yield higher dividends than the returns paid to the owners.
“The pension fund administration does not own the money they are using for investments; they got it from the workers, so why are they short-changing them.
“Investors source for money from them which is large enough to service an economy because the cash is an elastic one with a determined and fixed date of return on investment.
“Some of the money were also channelled toward some other ventures and businesses and they get commissions here and there.
“The question is; what will the workers get at the end of the day? At least if we have fixed deposit money in the bank we expect a handsome interest,’’ he said.
Busari said that the way people borrow money from bank and get interests on the loan should be applicable to the money deposited for pension.
“If we go to the bank to borrow money, won’t we pay interest? The same thing applies here; they are pooling other people’s resources together in the name of pension.
“They will use the money for quite a long time and this money will not be given back to them in bulk. Note that inflation must have affected the money too.
“They get a large chunk of money and claim it is for precautionary motive thereby tagging it as savings. It is a fraud of the highest order. The workers are losing.
“Workers should be seen as investors not savers. The pension fund administrators are just behaving like capitalists,’’ he said.
“I implore the government to address the lopsidedness of the pension scheme to help workers that have been denied their rights to have a new lease on life.
“We will channel our grievances to the National Assembly to seek for the economic justice for the average Nigerian worker that has been exploited over the years.
“The owner of the money should enjoy the largest percentage of the profit not those that are managing the money on their behalf.
“Workers should be paid according to what they have contributed and not referred to as a mere savers, that is wrong because they are using the money for particular businesses.’’ (NAN)

Americans Want Marijuana More Than Pizza, Ice Cream, and 10 Other Products

• Sam Becker  

• May 31, 2017

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A young demonstrator takes part in a march calling for the legalization of marijuana in Brazil. | Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty Images

Marijuana is legal for recreational consumption in just a handful of states, but Americans’ appetite is growing. Medical marijuana is more widespread, and it appears that full legalization is imminent in many other states. As of 2016, combined sales for both medical and recreational cannabis totaled between $4 billion and $4.5 billion. And even though sales are only legal in limited areas, revenue is already overtaking those in other, more established industries.
A report from Marijuana Business Daily says revenue is set to grow exponentially. And though actual revenue, at this point, still lags way behind sales of cigarettes and beer, the demand for marijuana — the amount Americans actually want — is estimated to be higher than a number of other products and services.
Per the report, the estimated total demand for recreational marijuana in the U.S. is between $45 billion and $50 billion. Americans aren’t necessarily getting that much pot, at least not through legal means, but that’s an eye-opening number that should have executives in other industries peeking over their shoulders.
It’s not hard to imagine the pot industry could eat into those revenues as legalization spreads. Right now, however, that demand (and the current sales marks) is already beating out many other products and services. Here are 12 you might find surprising, as even pizza is struggling to keep up.

1. Girl Scout cookies

Who doesn’t love Thin Mints and Samoas? Girl Scout cookies are one of those pesky snacks you actually feel bad not purchasing. You do, after all, want to support young girls as they learn leadership skills. According to the Marijuana Business Daily report, Americans eat up $776 million worth of Girl Scout cookies every year. That’s a fraction of legal and medical marijuana sales.
Next: This popular drink is only about half as popular as legal and medical marijuana.

2. Tequila

A shot of tequila | iStock.com

Many Americans steer clear of tequila, but it still sells in enormous volumes. The report shows Americans buy $2.3 billion in tequila annually, which is roughly half of the current expenditures on legal and medical pot. This, of course, is only a fraction of a larger industry: alcohol. Compare tequila sales to beer, for example, which is more than $105 billion annually.
Next: Music has nothing on marijuana.

3. Music streaming services

A woman listens to music on her phone. | Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images

We all love music, and these days, streaming services are the way to go. There are a variety of services out there, such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music Unlimited. Combined, however, these services only amount to $2.5 billion in annual sales. That’s no small number, of course. But it still lags behind the level of marijuana sales — and well behind the estimated demand for legal pot.
Next: Marijuana has more demand than Viagra?

4. Erectile dysfunction medication

Viagra | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Erectile dysfunction affects a lot of people — an estimated 52% of men will experience it at some point in their lives. And a lot of them are under age 40. This makes for a solid level of demand for treatments, typically dispensed in the form of Viagra or Cialis. Annual sales for those two drugs combined is $2.7 billion, per the report, which still isn’t enough to eclipse current marijuana sales.
Next: Sure, everyone loves pizza, but …

5. Frozen pizza

Pizza | iStock.com/bhofack2

We’ve all bought a frozen pizza. Whether it was a DiGiorno, Freschetta, Tombstone, or some frozen concoction from California Pizza Kitchen, frozen pizzas are a staple for millions of people. All told, Americans spend $4.4 billion on frozen pies every year. This is the first item on Marijuana Business Daily’s list that overtakes current marijuana sales. But it’s still way, way behind estimated demand.
Next: Marijuana and snacks go together like Cheech and Chong.

6. Doritos, Cheetos, and Funyuns

A Chester the Cheetah figure | Slaven Viasic/Getty Images

Marijuana and snacks are two peas in a pod. If you were to picture the stereotypical (though probably not accurate) stoner in your mind, they might have their hand shoved into a bag of Doritos or Cheetos. Well, sales of those two products, plus Funyuns, add up to $4.9 billion. That’s roughly 10% of estimated demand for legal pot.

7. Ice cream

Ice cream | iStock.com/dulezidar

It’s hard to believe people want marijuana more than ice cream, but the report seems to indicate that is indeed the case. Retail sales for ice cream, per Marijuana Business Daily, adds up to $5.1 billion per year. There are some caveats, of course, as there are other unaccounted ice cream sales. And you can bet armies of children, very few of whom are interested in marijuana, create a large pool of demand for ice cream that might fly under the radar.
Next: The big screen might have to compete for big green.

8. Movie tickets

A movie ticket is an expensive form of entertainment. | Universal Pictures

Movies are expensive, and with so many sequels, reboots, and total stinkers invading local theaters, it’s hard to blame someone for wanting to do something else with their time and money. Even so, annual movie ticket sales still count for $11.1 billion, per the report. If the estimates for legal pot demand prove to be true, the film industry might find another entertainment option with which to compete.
Next: How does the demand of love stack up?

9. Engagement and wedding rings

Wedding rings | iStock.com/paulrichstudio

Wedding and engagement rings are expensive — sometimes on a level that borders ridiculous. Getting married is a big life event, so most people are OK with splurging to make it special.
Although this isn’t included on Marijuana Business Daily’s report, it’s worthwhile to include wedding rings to get an idea of how high demand for marijuana actually is. Demand for wedding rings is around $11 billion, according to 2011 numbers from Knot Market Intelligence.
Next: Child care is expensive.

10. Child care

Children play at a day care center. | Carsten Koall/Getty Images

Child care is incredibly expensive, and Americans spend a lot of money to ensure their children are taken care of while they work. And that demand is roughly equal to the demand for legal marijuana. The demand for pot is between $45 billion and $50 billion. And child care demand, according to IBISWorld’s market research, is $48 billion. So, right now, they’re more or less on equal footing.
Next: How does gambling stack up?

11. Gambling

Slot machine | Christopher Furlong /Getty Images

Would you believe marijuana demand is higher than the amount of money gambled every year? It appears that’s the case. According to 2010 data from the American Gambling Association, Americans gamble away $34.6 billion per year. Roughly one-third of that happens during the NCAA basketball tournament, or March Madness. Still, demand for legal pot is higher.
Next: Marijuana sales will soon overtake this popular sport.

12. The NFL

NFL legend Drew Brees | Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images

The NFL is huge. From September through February, it’s all over the TV, radio, and internet. But the marijuana industry will catch up to the NFL’s girth — and soon. In terms of dollar amounts, demand for weed is already eclipsing Americans’ appetite for pro football. In just a few years, actual sales — and not just estimated demand — will overtake the NFL’s $13.3 billion in revenues.

Culled from Culture Cheat Sheet