Nigeria begins implementation of employees compensation scheme

Mr Munir Abubakar
Acting Managing Director of NSTIF

Nigeria begins implementation of employees compensation scheme
Helen Shok Jok, Abuja

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) says it will start the implementation of Employees Compensation Scheme.

Already, the organization had released seven of the 13 forms that must be filled by the would be beneficiaries.

Unveiling the forms in Abuja on Monday, the Acting Managing Director of NSTIF, Mr Munir Abubakar also disclosed that beneficiaries of the programme, who include workers in both the public and the private sectors were fully aware of the benefits of the policy.

To facilitate access, a 24-hour call centers has been opened in Abuja and Lagos with more centers to be opened in all the states of the federation soon.

Employee compensation Act

The Employee Compensation Act seeks to take care of any kind of complaints or sustained injury by workers at the work place.

In the words of Abubakar:“For now, because of the enormity of the coverage areas, we are only starting 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 states of federation but every local government areas.”

He said: “In all, there are 13 forms to be used but for the start we are only going to start with seven forms. 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.   The scheme is supposed to cover both public and private sectors of the economy and that is why every nooks and crannies must be covered.”

Provisions of the policy

With this new policy, workers are assured of adequate compensation in the case of any kind of work place accident that may result to partial or permanent disability or even death.

Mr Abubakar  assured Nigerians that injured workers will not experience any delay in situation where they would  need help to get back to work as the case may be.

“As I speak, we have started working with hospitals, clinics and employers to make sure that anybody that is  injured in the cause 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.”

Implementation

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

Abubakar said the scheme would begin with employers in private and public sectors which are expected to begin remitting the one per cent of the salaries of their employees into the Scheme.

He added: “To show that we are ready for both the 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.”

The full regulations guiding the operation of the scheme will be unveiled by the Minister of Labour and Productivity Chief Emeka Wogu at a later date.

While assuring the staff of safety of their jobs, Alhaji Abubakar said the recent promotion exercise which came for the time in about a decade will continue even as new staffers are expected to join the NSITF service next month (August) in readiness for the commencement of the Employees Compensation scheme.

The benefits of the Scheme include payment of compensation to the dependants of deceased worker who die in the course of work, compensation for permanent or partial disability, medical treatment for injury sustained, rehabilitation and vocational training for workers who will no longer fit into their former workplace and will need to learn another trade that can sustain them for as long as they live.

Williams