Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, has said that he intends to unbundle the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) to make it more for efficient.
The minister who made the remark while flagging off this year’s Customer Service Week at the Fund’s Headquarters in Abuja, charged the staff of the fund to continue to put in their best to actualise the goal of the Employee Compensation Scheme.
He also assured the management and staff of the support and cooperation of the ministry towards ensuring that the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President and his vision for Nigerian workers is actualised in the agency.
A statement by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Nwachukwu Godson, said the minister enjoined the staff to work hard and shun all negative vices that can pull the organisation down.
He further urged the agency to exploit the opportunity offered by the Customer Service Week to review its services to the Nigerian workers with a view to serving them better.
Lalong assured that “under him the agency would be unbundled for efficiency and make its operations fair to all staff members.”
He promised that no staff will be witch-hunted in the exercise.
While leading the NSITF focal officers on a roadshow to mark the event, Executive Director, Administration of the fund, Prof. Gabriel Okenwa, thanked the minister for being responsive to the needs of the staff and added it was the first time in the history of the agency that its supervising minister would flag off its Customer Service Week.
He assured the minister that the Fund had already keyed into the Renewed Hope Agenda of the federal government, ranging from transparency, efficient deployment of resources to streamlining the operations of the fund in line with global best practices.
“Our new mantra is ‘The NSITF Can’. If there are missteps in the past, present management and staff are already forging ahead, ever determined to ensure that we deliver fully on our onerous obligation to the world of work.
“The services we offer are ones that are dear to the heart of every Nigerian worker – safety at workplaces and prevention of accidents, paying of compensation for injury in the course of work, rehabilitation and assisting injured enrollees be on their feet again while helping bereaved families live beyond pains in case of death of dear ones in the course of work,” he said.
