Over 2.8m Employers Operate Outside NSITF Scheme, Says MD

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has said that only 180,000 employers of labour out of three million companies and businesses have complied with the mandatory requirement of registering their employees with the social insurance scheme.

In the same vein, the Fund said that only two states out of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja have subscribed to the NSITF scheme.

Speaking during an interactive session with labour reporters in Abuja, the Managing Director of NSITF, Mr. Michael Akabogu, said that in the last two quarters “spanning from the month of June to November 2021, NSITF has paid a total sum of N529,962,770.07 as Claims and Compensation.”

He said the claims and compensations were for medical expenses refunds; loss of productivity to employers, death benefit to next of kin, disability benefits to employees, beneficiary of deceased employees, and retirement benefits on behalf of disabled employees.

On the issue of alleged illegal recruitment of staff by previous management of the NSITF, Akabogu said that there is presently no staff recruited outside the approved rules, adding that no new staff had been engaged by NSITF since 2017.

While giving more insights on the activities of fund, Akabogu said NSITF has so far registered about 180,000 companies, with only two states as subscribers.

“We have registered about 180,000 employers out of an estimated three million companies operating in the country. We also have two states that subscribed to the scheme. Currently, we are collaborating with the management of the Corporate Affairs Commission to get the database of all registered companies in the country so that we will be able to reach out to them for registration,” he said.

The MD lamented that NSITF has not yet fully realised its mandate in terms of scope and magnitude of social assistance to workers and Nigerians due to limitations of the law setting it up.

However, Akabogu expressed hope that with the ongoing review of the NSITF Act, the Fund will be given all the necessary legal teeth to play its role satisfactorily.

He said the realisation of its full mandate will see NSITF creating pathways to widen the spread of its enrollees and most importantly, improve on and ensure prompt payments of claims and compensations to give value for money to all the contributors under the Employee Compensation Scheme.

“ In addition, it may interest you to know that NSITF in last two quarters spanning from the month of June to November 2021, paid a total sum of N529,962,770.07 as Claims and Compensation,” he said.

Akabogu said one of the key focuses of the organisation was the provision of social assistance through skills acquisition.

According to him, the essence of skills acquisition is to equip the youths to be able to earn a living to sustain themselves.

“If an unemployed person learns a certain skill, it will enable the person to work in the field of learning and support themselves and others around them, and become employers of labour,” he said.

He explained that another form of social intervention by NSITF is in the area of provision of cash handout.

According to him, the reason for the cash handout is to stimulate the economy which has been heavily affected by the insurgency, armed banditry, robbery, kidnapping and the COVID-19 pandemic.

He added that: “It is an initiative that will disburse a certain amount of cash to individuals and/or households ascertained to be vulnerable to help them cope with lack of income due to unemployment.”