By Funmi Komolafe

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) is charged with the responsibility of implementing the Employees Compensation Scheme which ensures that workers  secure some monetary compensation.

Pension &You met with the managing director of NSITF,  Alhaji Umar Munir Abubakar. He spoke on the implementation, challenges and  prospects  of the scheme. First, we took him up on the issue of  compliance, and he explained that there are two sides to the issue of payment.

He said the Federal Government has complied to the tune of about N5billion,  but that NSITF is still working with the Budget office and the Accountant-General of the Federation to reconcile exact figures of employees involved and the number  of Ministries, Departments,  and Agencies(MDAs).

He explained  that another category of payment from the Federal Government is from MDAs  that are not “treasury funded.” For this category , the MDAs pay on their own.   A third category  are those who  are working towards compliance. Some of these are willing to make their remittances,  including arrears.

So generally  what has been the response of state governments? The NSITF boss  said  a significant number of state governments  have keyed into the scheme while others are being encouraged to do so. The management of NSITF  in its drive to attract more state governments were in Edo  and Taraba states recently.

In Edo, he said, “Governor Adams Oshiomhole  assured us that he will do everything  in  his powers to ensure that the state embraces the Employees Compensation Scheme.”

Apart from this, he said, NSITF has been having consultation with governors of states such as Lagos, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, and Cross River. He said the management of NSITF will also reach out to other states.

Challenges:   Alhaji Munir Abubakar threw  some light on why NSITF had to engage experts  to facilitate  remittances  of contributions.

He explained: “The collecting agents we appointed are firms and individuals that have experience in this type of business. They have operated for several years as tax consultants/collectors, financial experts, professionals in their own rights, etc. No matter what happens, we cannot on our own, collect in certain difficult areas.”

He said, management noted that the experts “ through their connections, professionalism and many years of experience, etc have been doing very well in that regard.”  Besides, he explained, they are complementing the efforts of NSITF staff.

Alhaji Munir Abubakar  said while the experts concentrate on remittances, especially in difficult areas, the staff of the organization are expected to  focus on areas such as enlightenment , inspection, rehabilitation and  payment of benefits which are core areas of the scheme.

Computerization:   NSITF management appreciates that computerization  is an important aspect of its service delivery. Hence the managing director said, “ under the NSITF Scheme that operated between the period 1994 and 2004; we had serious ICT challenges that negatively affected our image and functions.”

But that  is past, said the chief executive.  Now he said, “The employees’ compensation scheme we are running today is principally IT-driven. I am equally happy to state that the NSITF Board of Directors, right from day one, identified Information Technology as key to the success of the scheme”, so, he said, management has prioritized this aspect of its function .

According to Alhaji Munir Abubakar, “ The employers we are serving have insisted that we ought to have a comprehensive computerization programme that will take care of our collections, benefit payments and registration among other tasks” and we have been working towards that .“