Abuja, Lagos Workers Record Highest Requests for NSITF Compensation

Abuja, Lagos Workers Record Highest Requests for NSITF Compensation

Onyebuchi Ezigbo

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has said that the Abuja and Lagos regions of the country recorded the highest requests for compensation for injured workers in 2021.

While giving performance update, the General Manager, Claims and Compensation at NSITF, Nkiru Ogunnaike, said the fund in 2021 processed and paid 18,128 claims, amounting to a total sum of N857,754,394.51 , with Lagos and Abuja regions accounting for 7,688 and 4,223 of the claims.

A statement signed by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs of NSITF, Mrs. Ijeoma Okoronkwo, said the update by Ogunnaike was presented at the 2022 Management Review Conference held in Abuja last Thursday.

Ogunnaike gave instance of a pathetic case of an employee of Bougyeus Construction Company, who sustained injury in the course of work, leading to total deafness in his two ears and requiring Cochlear Implant Surgery to enable him hear again.

“The Board of the NSITF sat and exhaustively deliberated on this case of 100 per cent disability and graciously approved the sum of N14m for the surgery.

He has also been added to the monthly payroll of the NSITF/Employee Compensation Scheme Unit, pending successful operation and recovery, and if not, until he attains the age of 55.

Managing Director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Mr. Mike Akabogu while speaking at the review meeting, said the agency has implemented landmark decisions in furtherance of the strategic reform package.

The NSITF MD, who came into being barely a year ago, said the agency was being reformed with a view to raising the bar of performance.

He charged the staff of the agency to work harder towards the consolidation of its strategic reforms.

Akabogu expressed the need for continuous cross-level engagement of the workforce to engender synergy needed for the achievement of target goals.

The NSITF boss admonished staff to work towards optimum realisation of the mandate of the Employee Compensation Act.

“We must continue to raise the bar, by implementing landmark decisions for our strategic reform. Hence, we deem it necessary to continually engage our workforce so that the activities of various departments and units will be streamlined for easy realisation of our core targets and objectives. That’s why we are here today.

“We are here for stock-taking, to measure our performance in the previous year. How did we fare? What are the obstacles, the challenges? The feedback is necessary for the re-engineering of our strategic reforms and setting the tone for year 2022 and beyond,” he said.

Also in his presentation, the General Manager Health, Safety and Environment, Mr. Kelly Nwagha, said the agency is centred on occupational health and safety which is the convention the world over, noting that key to its operation is prevention which again, is anchored on reactiveness.
He said NSITF has equally taken 1,426 occupational safety and health audit and investigation in the year under review.

He stated the department has taken occupational safety awareness campaigns to the doorstep of the employers and employees to ensure accident prevention in work places.

He said: “In the year under review, the department has undertaken a total of 867 accident/ incident cases involving prompt medical intervention, identification of accurate root causes, proffering of correct remedial actions and collation of factual statistics.

“We have also carried out 690 Occupational Safety and Health awareness and enlightenment programmes, imparting improved knowledge base on participants (Employers & Employees) with sensitisation topics tailored towards identified organisational needs

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