James Ojo, Abuja
THE Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has revealed that contribution into the scheme in 2019 was the highest since its inception in 2011.
According to the Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Fund, Adebayo Somefun, that has enabled the Fund to spend more on claims and compensation on the injured than previous years.
He disclosed that about N825 million was spent to rehabilitate injured workers in 2019 alone.
The NSITF boss added that the high contribution collection enabled the Management deploy considerable sums in investment in accordance with the prescription of the Employees’ Compensation Act (ECA) 2010.
“The NSITF paid more claims in 2019 than in previous years, while rehabilitating more employees with work related disabilities as provided by the ECA,” he stated.
Highlighting other achievements of the Fund in 2019, the NSITF Managing Director stated that the Fund was able to combine efforts and resources of relevant stakeholders for the prevention of workplace accidents, efforts which include the enforcement of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) standards.
Somefun added that the management of the Fund, in its bid to enhance productivity and improve the ease of registration by employers, put in place innovations that would achieve the purpose.
According to him, the innovations included the successful launching of NSITF’s e-Portals for client’s registration and payments”, adding, “we are currently working on the e-portal for issuance of NSITF Compliance Certificates to further revolutionise the Fund’s processes.”
He expressed delight in making open and keeping information about the Fund in the public domain, which he noted placed the Fund in the 2019 National Freedom of Information Compliance Ranking on 26th position out of 191 public institutions which featured in the rankings.
Somefun, who reiterated the management’s resolve to continue to improve the operations of the Fund, while delivering on the mandate of the Employees’ Compensation Act, stated that NSITF is poised to improve its debt recovery drive.