NSITF Targets One Million Annual Registration, Settles Over 100,000 Claims

* To bring NYSC members, okada riders into ECS

Dike Onwuamaeze

The Managing Director/Chief Executive of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Mr. Oluwaseun Faleye, has set a target of registering one million employees annually into the country’s Employers Compensation Scheme (ECS), in his bid to reshape the future of social insurance in Nigeria by making it a benchmark of excellence.

Faleye announced the new target, Thursday, in Lagos during the opening of a two-day retreat for Senate and House Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity themed – “Building a Stronger NSITF.”

According to him, the NSITF is empowered by law, in line with Section 84 (2) of the Pension Reform Act 2014 (as amended), to provide social security services to all eligible citizens, while the Employers’ Compensation Act (ECA) 2010, mandated every employer of labour (public and private), to contribute 1.0 per cent of the total emoluments of its staff to NSITF in order to pay claims and compensations to eligible employees or their beneficiaries in the occurrence of workplace accidents and work related injuries, diseases and death.

Currently, the NSITF has been able to register over 164,000 employers and 8.4 million employees into the scheme and has paid 103,292 claims.
He said: “We can achieve one million annual enrollment target through public enlightenment that ensures the public understand the benefits that come from being registered under the ECA, especially the support that it gives in case of injuries, death, sickness or disease arising from work related activities.  
“If we are able to get the state and local governments and other corporate organisations to understand the importance of this scheme, I think one million registrations will be a far cry from what we can achieve. We can do more if we set our minds to it.”

He also stated that the NSITF has been mulling how it could extend social insurance cover to members of the NYSC scheme.
“We think that the NSITF under the auspices of the compensation scheme can work out a social protection platform that gives the NYSC members some peace of mind that they deserve during their service.”
Faleye also made it clear that the “NSITF is not a revenue generating agency of government. We are trustees, mandated by law to manage funds for the protection of Nigerian workers.

“Our mission aligns with international standards such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Social Security Administration (ISSA).”
This clarification became necessary because the NSITF is remitting between 40 and 50 per cent of its revenue to the federal government.  
Speaking during the retreat, a member of the Senate Committee, Senator Cyril Fasuyi, representing Ekiti North Senatorial District, emphasised the need to clarify with the Honourable Minister of Finance the difference between a revenue generating agency and a self-funding agency.
Fasuyi noted that it is a major disadvantage for an agency to part with 40 or 50 per cent of its revenue, especially for a social insurance agency that has compensatory payment obligations to execute.  

He said: “I think that there is a need for us as National Assembly to address this need with the Minister of Finance for him to understand that the NSITF is a self-funding agency and not a revenue generating agency.”
Speaking in the same vein, a member of the House Committee, Hon. Peter Ifeanyi Uzokwe, representing Nnewi North, Nnewi South and Ekwusigo Federal Constituency, said that it is hurting that about 40 per cent is being deducted from NSITF when it is not a revenue generating agency.
Uzokwe asked: “Don’t you think that something is wrong or that there is a misconception somewhere? So, let us reconcile this in order to know the fight that we are going to fight.”

He, however, cautioned against making ECA certificate a mandatory requirement for operating a bank account to avoid upsetting the country’s fragile economy.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee, Senator Diket Satso Plang, representing Plateau Central Senatorial District, commended President Bala Tinubu for appointing Faleye as the CEO of NSITF, describing him as a round peg in a round hole.
Plang said that the retreat would enable the committee to be on the same page and pursuing the same goal with the management of the NSITF.
He said: “When all stakeholders have full understanding of the challenges of the NSITF and are on the same page, it will lead to a better, more progressive, more stabilised NSITF.”

Similarly, the House Committee Chairman, Hon. Adegboyega Adefarati, representing Akoko South East/South West Federal Constituency, said that Faleye has the character, competence and capacity to build a stronger NSITF.
He, therefore, appealed to the CEO to fast-track the full digitalisation of NSITF.
“We have assured him (Faleye) of our cooperation and anywhere we need to rejig or amend the ACT, we are ready,” he said.