NSITF Secures Enrollees from Maritime University

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja  

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) said it has reached an understanding with the Maritime University, Okerenkoko, to help bring more enrollees under the innovative social insurance scheme.

As a social security agency of the federal government, the NSITF said it has enormous role in lifting lots of the workers in Nigeria out of poverty.  
It said apart from offering free occupational safety training to workers to eliminate hazards and promote productivity, the NSITF also strives to meet the workers at their critical point of need.

A statement by the NSITF General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mr. Nwachukwu Godson, quoted the Managing Director of NSITF, Mrs. Maureen Allagoa, as having stated this during a sensitisation visit to the Vice Chancellor of the Nigeria Maritime University, Okerenkoko in Delta State.
Allagoa, who was represented by Warri Branch Manager of the Fund, Mr. Erhire Joseph Ọghifo, leading other members of the Compliance Team, said the NSITF had successfully keyed into the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration.

“We offer free occupational safety training to workers to eliminate hazards and promote productivity. We also meet the workers at their critical point of need – eventuality of accidents or even death in the course of work. We rehabilitate, we pay benefits and assist a worker get up on his feet again.
“And where the inevitable comes, we assist dependants, the bereaved family live beyond tears,” he said.

Oghifo further listed increased productivity  and industrial harmony as part of the benefits of the scheme  and listed a number of claims beneficiaries in Warri and the environs,  explaining that the advantages of the ECS over the repealed Workman Compensation Act (WCA) lies in the uniqueness  of the ECS as a “no fault scheme.”

In his words, “the fund is determined to live down its past and pull along the nation’s workforce at a time no effort should be spared towards a fulfilling world of work.”
While welcoming the team, the Vice Chancellor of the Nigeria Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State, Prof. Emmanuel Munakurogha Adigio, applauded the new management team of the Fund for its visible commitment towards the actualisation of the Employee Compensation goals.

He assured the NSITF that the university’s tender’s board would henceforth list the NSITF compliance certificate as a mandatory requirement for contract bidding.
“I am glad and impressed that you took the pains, time and risk to come this far to enlighten us. Your resolve, detailed presentation of the vast benefits of the scheme, how to access them and your account of traceable beneficiaries of the scheme around us, have shown the seriousness of your organisation” he said.

The Vice Chancellor commended for the NSITF management for its renewed determination to bring the elastic benefits of the Employee Compensation Scheme(ECS) to the doorstep of all Nigerian workers.

He also extolled the Fund for its sensitivity to the needs of the nation’s workforce and promised to keenly study the scheme along with his team, with a view to enrolling the staff of the university as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, in line with the agreement reached with the Fund’s domestic unions at the conciliation convened July 10, 2023, NSITF said that its management promotion examination exercise will take place from October 3 to 6, 2023.

Godson said in a statement that, “In fulfilment of the agreement reached with the domestic units of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institution Employees (NUBFIE), the 2023 management promotion examination exercise will take place from 3rd to 6th August 2023.”

The NSITF MD, assured of the determination of the management to re-engineer the operations of the fund to adequately play its role as the nation’s number one social security vehicle.

She also noted that despite challenges, she was leaving no stone unturned in taking every measure necessary to achieve efficient and resilient workforce.