By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, has been commended for its determination to bring the elastic benefits of the Employee Compensation Scheme, ECS, to the doorstep of all Nigerian workers.

Vice Chancellor of the Nigeria Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State, Prof. Emmanuel Munakurogha Adigio, gave the commendation while addressing a team from the NSITF on a sensitisation and advocacy visit to the university.

This is as the agreement reached with the Fund’s domestic unions at the conciliation convened July 10, 2023  by the  former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Daju Kachollom on the 2023 management promotion examination exercise will take place from 3rd to 6th October, 2023.    

A statement by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs of the NSITF, Nwachukwu Godson said Prof. Adigio applauded the new management team of the Fund for its visible commitment towards the actualisation of the Employee Compensation goals.

He said, “I am glad and impressed that you took the pains, time and risk to come this far to enlighten us. Your resolve, detailed presentation of the vast benefits of the scheme, how to access them and your account of traceable beneficiaries of the scheme around us, have shown the seriousness of your organisation.”

He extolled the management of the NSITF for its sensitivity to the needs of the nation’s workforce and promised to keenly study the scheme along with his team, with a view to enrolling  the staff of the university as soon as possible. He further assured the NSITF that the university’s tender’s board would henceforth list the NSITF compliance certificate as a mandatory requirement for contract bidding.

Earlier in his address, the Managing Director of the NSITF, Barr. Maureen Allagoa, represented by Warri Branch Manager of the Fund, Mr. Erhire Joseph Ọghifo said the NSITF has successfully keyed into the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration, adding  that the fund as the key social security agency of the Federal Government has enormous role in lifting the lots of the workers of Nigeria. 

“We offer free occupational safety training to workers to eliminate hazards and promote productivity. We also meet the workers at their critical point of need – eventuality of accidents or even death in the course of work.

“We rehabilitate, we pay benefits and assist a worker get up on his feet again. And where the inevitable comes, we assist dependents, the bereaved family live beyond tears,” he said.

Oghifo further  itemized increased productivity  and industrial harmony as part of the benefits of the scheme  and listed a number of claims beneficiaries in Warri and the environs,  explaining that the advantages of the ECS over the repealed Workman Compensation Act (WCA) lies in the uniqueness  of the ECS as a “no fault scheme”. In his words, “ the fund is determined to live down its past and pull along the nation’s workforce at a time no effort should be spared towards a fulfilling world of work.”

The visit coincided with the Maritime  University’s Bursary Week, hence , in attendance were also  the Registrar, Dr. Alfred T. Mulade,  Dr. John Charly Igwe, Bursar, the Bursar of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun, Warri, Mr Garba Nabyi, and that of  the University of Benin, Dr. Victor Imagbe.

The NSITF team who defied the turbulent wave on the Niger Creeks to Okerenkoko further distributed copies of its Establishing  Act, fliers as well as answers to frequently asked questions about the Fund.

Other members of the Fund compliance team at the visit to the creeks hosting the Nigeria Maritime University, Okerenkoko, were Okorodas Ebitimitula Priscilla, Omukoro Nelson, Dio Biripudigha and Edojah Solomon.

Similarly, in fulfilment of  the agreement reached with the domestic units of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions, ASSBIFI, and the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institution Employees, NUBFIE, the 2023 management promotion examination exercise will take place from 3rd to 6th August 2023.

Reacting to the development, the Managing Director, Barr. Allagoa said merit-based career progression is a sine qua non for boosting the morale of the workforce towards optimal productivity. She assured of the determination of the management to re-engineer the operations of the fund to adequately play its role as the nation’s number one social security vehicle.

She also noted that despite challenges, she was  leaving no stone unturned in taking every measure necessary to achieve efficient  and resilient workforce.

Recall that the computer-based promotion  examination  for the non-management cadre had successfully taken place on July 28, 2023  across the 12 regions of the NSITF.