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Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Barrister Oluwaseun Falaye has identified workplace safety and social protection as a foundation for national development as they are social pillars of economic stability and national development.
The NSITF MD made this assertion when stakeholders from the legal profession converged in Abuja Monday at the Barcelona Hotels to deliberate on the operationalization of the Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS) and ways of enhancing its success
“Workplace safety and social protection are not optional; they are foundational to our national development, economic productivity, and human dignity.
“They are not just moral
obligations, they are pillars of social justice and human dignity, they are pillars of Economic
stability and national productivity. They are pillars of peace of mind for workers and risk mitigation for employers.
When workers are safe, employers thrive and
the nation prospers. In short, protecting workers is protecting the nation’s future, he emphasized..
Delving into the rationale for the engagement, Faleye explained, “The theme of this year’s conference, “Enhancing Stakeholder Collaboration for Sustainable
Employees’ Compensation Administration,”
aligns perfectly with the call to protect the legal
frameworks that guarantee social insurance for
Nigerian workers, frameworks that protect
against injuries, occupational diseases, or death
in the line of duty. According to him, it is also a call for visionary
leadership in securing both employee welfare
and employer sustainability.”
The MD/CE stated that the Employees’ Compensation Act (ECA) 2010 established the ECS administered by NSITF to provide adequate and equitable compensation for workers who suffer work-related injuries, diseases, and disabilities including mental health. He continued that the Fund is further mandated to provide compensation and support for the families of employees in case of any fatality.
Other services provided by the Fund, according to Barrister Faleye, are rehabilitation and empowerment after workplace accidents, but most importantly, prevention of workplace hazards.
Quoting data from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to highlight the enormity of workplace accidents, Barrister Olúwaṣeun Faleye said, “More than 2.8 million workers die annually
from occupational accidents and diseases while over 374 million suffer non-fatal injuries leading to long-term disabilities,” adding that the global cost of poor occupational safety is estimated at 4% of global GDP
annually.
He lamented that Nigeria’s situation has been made worse by the lack of proper data, large informal sector of the economy, high risk sectors, and institutional culture of non-adherence to safety and non-compliance.
Going further, the MD acknowledged that the ECA is a better law than its predecessors and that the Fund had made remarkable progress in delivering on its mandate.
He, however, explained that new and emerging challenges necessitated a reworking of the laws to better meet modern needs.
Barrister Faleye therefore, called on the legal stakeholders, especially judges, to help advance the cause; taking social protection as a matter of right, avoiding technicalities in interpretations and through advocacy.
While delivering a keynote address, Justice Benedict Kanyip, President of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, thanked Barrister Faleye “for putting up this interactive session meant to be a robust engagement on employees’
compensation scheme (ECS) operations in Nigeria.”
He noted that “although the
workshop is designed primarily for the benefit of judges of the
National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), the engagement is wide
enough to include Registry Staff of the Court, staff of the Commission,
lawyers and stakeholders as far as employees’ compensation is
concerned.
“Injury in workplaces is today a commonplace. Nigeria is expected to
adopt measures that prevent workplace injuries. And where injuries
do occur, to compensate for them,” he stressed as he explained that “Nigeria, by virtue of its membership
of the International International Organisation (ILO), is bound by these
twin objectives: to prevent, and compensate for, workplace injuries.
“It is for these that Nigeria ratified the ILO Occupational Safety and
Health Convention 1981 (C155) ratified on 3 May 1994 ; and the
Promotional Framework for Occupational
Safety and Health Convention, 2006 (C187) ratified on 8 November
2022,” he continued.
Justice Kanyip submitted that “any failure to extend compensation to all victims of occupational injuries would undermine Nigeria’s obligations under the C155 and
C187.”
Underscoring the inalienable right of workers in this regard he said, “A look at National Occpational Safety and Health Policy will show that Paragraph 4.1(d)
provides that the National OSH Policy applies to all Nigerian
workplaces including formal and informal sector workplaces and
covers the protection of workers and their representatives from
disciplinary measures as a result of actions properly taken to secure
safety and health at work.”
Pointing out a weakness in the extant law, Justice Kanyip said, “Where an employer fails to remit his contribution as enjoined by section 33 of the ECA, it remains to be
seen whether an employee, who is a victim of occupational injury but cannot claim from the NSITF under the ECA because of the non-
remittance, can succeed against the employer for statutory negligence i.e. for failure to remit the contribution. Right now, only time will tell.”