By Oscarline Onwuemenyi

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) yesterday announced plans to kick-start implementation of the Employees Compensation Scheme to cover all workers who get injured in the place of work.

The Acting Managing Director of NSTIF, Alhaji Munir Abubakar who made the announcement at a briefing in Abuja, also disclosed that 24-hours call centres have been opened in Abuja and Lagos with more opening in all the states of the federation soon, to enable quick access to the service by workers.

He said, “Over the past few months, the Fund has been working hard underground to prepare for this programme. We believe that it would be a huge success because it is what millions of workers in Nigeria have been waiting for.

“The issue of where and how employers can remit payment has also been sorted out. We have also created call centres that will be operating 24 hours a day. They can be assessed by anybody that has any kind of complaint or sustains injury to reach us.”

Abubakar noted that because of the enormity of the coverage areas, the Fund would start only with Lagos and Abuja. “We have a number of call centres in Lagos and Abuja and as time goes on, we intend not only to cover every state of federation but every local government area.

“The scheme is supposed to cover both public and private sectors of the economy and that is why every nook and cranny must be covered.”

He explained that the new scheme would offer broader coverage than the defunct Workers Compensation Act, adding that under the new programme, widows and children of workers who lose their lives in the act of work would be adequately covered.

He said, “Relatives of the deceased would be given regular payment to compensate for the death at work of the breadwinner. In case of injuries, all medical expenses are covered by the Fund, and there is also a rehabilitation coverage for workers who have undergone traumatic or life-threatening accidents that would require appropriate rehabilitation to get back to work.”

The NSITF boss assured that injured workers will not experience any delay in a situation where they need to be helped back to their work after sustaining injury.

“As I speak, we have started working with hospitals, clinics and employers to make sure that anybody that is injured in the course of work is treated immediately. That is why we are releasing these forms so that employers and employees will know what to do in case of injury,” he stated.

He also revealed that monitoring teams have been put in place to enforce compliance with the rules and regulations guiding the employees’ compensations scheme.

Abubakar said the scheme is beginning with employers in private and public sectors which are expected to begin remitting the 1% of the salaries of their employees into the Scheme.

“To show that we are ready for both public and private sectors, our state offices are busy distributing letters to all employers. We will make sure that all employers receive their letters this week or before the end of the month. We are also making sure that workers are aware that these letters have gotten to their employees so that the contributory scheme will start in earnest.”

He stressed that the full regulations guiding the operation of the scheme would soon be unveiled by the Minister of Labour and Productivity.