Begins nationwide sensitisaton of workers

By Victor Ahiuma-Young & Johnbosco Agbakwuru

WHEN in December 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan signed the Employees Compensation Act, ECA, into law to give statutory backing to NSITF for the provision of Social Security Insurance Services in form of Employees Compensation Scheme, ECS, which commenced in 2011.

The objectives of ECA are “to provide for an open and fair system of guaranteed and adequate compensation for all employees or their dependents for any death, injury, disease or disability arising out of or in the course of employment; to provide rehabilitation to employees with work disability as much as possible; to establish and maintain a solvent compensation fund managed in the interest of employees and employers; to provide for fair and adequate assessments for employers; to provide an appeal procedure that is simple, fair and accessible, with minimal delays; and to combine efforts and resources of relevant stakeholders for the prevention of workplace disabilities, including the enforcement of occupational safety and health standard.

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Between 2011 and now, the focus of ECS had mainly been on formal sector of the economy.

However, the Federal Government through NSITF plans to integrate informal sector into the ECS as part of efforts by the present management of the fund led by Dr. Michael Akabogu to reposition and deepen the operations of the scheme.

Towards this end, NSITF has begun massive nationwide sensitisation campaigns to educate informal sector workers on the operations of ECS to integrating them into the scheme.

The Abuja zone of the sensitisation campaigns was held in Abuja on Monday, February 7, while that of Kano zone took place on Wednesday, February 9, 2022. 

Abuja region comprises the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, and three states of  Kogi, Kwara and Niger. Among the informal sector workers that attended the programme were representatives of the Tricycle Riders popularly known as the Keke Riders, the Civilian JTF, traders and other artisans.

Speaking at one such sensitisation campaign in Abuja, General Manager in charge of Abuja region, Tesh Kibikiwa, said that previously, the fund had concentrated on the enrollment of formal sector workers and leaving out informal sector workers.

According to him: “Whatever the work you do, you should not suffer disabilities or injuries but should you suffer injury, the NSITF will take care of your medical expenses. The scheme will ensure that workers that sustained injuries or disabilities resulting from their work, are treated properly to help them return to work or be rehabilitated.

“Today, you see a mixture of the informal sector chairmen or leaders of various sectors of associations in the informal sector. We had been concentrating on the formal sector but our Act stipulates that we should cover the informal sector which constitutes the larger percentage of the workforce in this country.  Hence, we have commenced the process of sensitisation to bring stakeholders in this sector on board so that they can also enjoy the welfare package of the Federal Government.

On the criteria for one to benefit from the scheme, he said that one must be a worker or employee in the formal sector or informal sector and that an informal sector worker is expected to pay one per cent of his or her total emolument, monthly, quarterly or yearly.

Speaking on the response from the informal sector, Kibikiwa said: “Today, we are impressed by the turn out of the people in the informal sector. A lot of them that came promised to take the message back to others and ensure that their members are well-informed to enable them register with the social insurance scheme.”

According to him, the present management of the NSITF had spread its dragnet across the country, to ensure that the people at the grassroots were given the opportunity to be part of the scheme, informing that: “We are trying to ensure that anybody who makes a claim and after fulfilling all the requirements, receives his payment not later than 14 days.

In a chat, the Secretary of the Tricycle Riders Association, NYSC Junction chapter, Kubwa, Isah Hassan Aliyu expressed the hope that his members will benefit from the scheme.