By Henry Ojelu

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, says it is working towards bringing on board employers in the informal sector of the economy including Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, SMEs.

NSITF Executive Director, Operation, Mrs Mojisolaoluwa Ali-Macaulay disclosed this on Wednesday at the organisation’s ‘compliance day’ at the ongoing Lagos International Trade Fair.

Speaking to journalists at the event, Mrs Ali-Macaulay stated that the informal sector is the bedrock of any country and that NSITF is engaging with all stakeholders in the sector to ensure that their employees or members are included into its Employee Compensation Scheme, ECS.

She said: “The informal sector comprising the SMEs of any economy across the world, is actually the bedrock of the economy of that country. They are not to be looked away from because they actually are the support line for the major economy of that country. Where the fiscal economy is failing, the small medium enterprises are the ones that cushion the economy of that country forward.

“We are doing stakeholders’ engagement to bring them onboard. Recently the informal sector department of the NSITF had some engagement with the Road Union workers here in Lagos. We are going around the country to all the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria so that we can engage with the people at the downstream, their heads, the unions, the association heads, like some of these business owners, the vulcanisers, the mechanics, the artisans, the association of the fashion designers, and all of these people.

“They are actually the most vulnerable people in our society. So then NSITF is very important for them because when there is a fatality or there is an accident or there is maybe, God forbid, a situation of permanent disability or even death, they are the ones that actually lose out.

“But when they know that there is a fund and organisation that caters to their welfare, and that when something happens, their life can still go on; their family will not be dejected as a result of the fatality, then they would be able to actually key in.

“So we are also strengthening and expanding our media reach and expanding our advocacy programs so that they can understand it. It’s an orientation thing. When people begin to see the benefits of what we are offering, they will readily key into the fund.”

Mrs Ali-Macaulay also noted that the orgaisation has made significant milestones since its establishment in 1993.

She said: “We have done a lot, quite a lot with compensation from inception of the fund. We have paid out thousands of compensation and claims to most employees who actually filed and completed their claims to the fund. We have processed a lot of prosthesis cases, we have paid a lot of debt benefits, we have even taken some employees abroad for treatment.

“Our records speak for us and like I said earlier that we have expended a whopping sum of N6.6 billion in terms of payment of claims and compensation to those who have filed in for their claims and we’re not stopping there. We’re trying to see how we can also expand our deliverables to the people who actually have registered with the fund. For the people who have permanent disabilities, we’re trying to see how we can help them to transform and to also adapt into their new roles of not being able to perform like they used to be.

“We’re not leaving them with their dilemma or their liabilities, we’re trying to see how we can help them acquire skill acquisition and then give them start-ups so that they can actually be useful to themselves and their families. We have done quite a lot and I’m proud to say that the fund has been able to reach out to a lot of Nigerian employees and of course to give their family welfare support.”

Mrs Ali-Macaulay also hinted that the fund is also working towards having a call centre where people can engage with the organisation.

“So when we have our call centre in operation, people will be able to call in, we’re going to have an inbound and outbound communication with the Nigerian populace. So it’s going to cut across all the Nigerian workforce. We’re also going to do something that makes the Nigerian people, especially people at the downstream, both the people at the indigenous level, to be able to understand that if their employers are not keying into the fund, he or she is being short-changed,’ she stated.

Reiterating that the fund belongs to all Nigerians, Ali-Macaulay said: “This is a fund that was established by the federal government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria basically for Nigerians. It doesn’t matter who you are as long as you’re a business owner registered under the Corporate Companies and Allied Matters Act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“ It is compulsory, it is mandatory, it is an appropriation that any business owner must register with the fund and by virtue of registration with the fund, automatically you are ceding the welfare of your employees to the fund for us to cater to you and your employees.

“It is now our responsibility to ensure the safety and welfare under the social security net of the NSITF to cater to the employees. So basically it’s for everybody cutting across all strata, all walks of the Nigerian workforce. So it’s not just for a particular sect, it is for everybody registered as a business owner under the Corporate Companies and Allied Matters Act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” She said.

In efforts to ensure that employers enrol their employees into the NSITF, Mrs Ali-Macaulay stated that the organisation adopt continuous engagement with non complying employers instead of being confrontational.

According to her, “There are caveats and there are ways by which we try to manage in such a way that we don’t lose relationships as well. What we just need to strengthen is our relationship and our reach and make people understand it.

“We feel employers need to understand that when they key into this process, that is the Employee Compensation Scheme, ECS, it’s actually to their own advantage. What it means is that when they key into this ECS, they are seeding their problems to us. To say, hey, these are my people, these are my employees, we’re handing over our burden to you.”