Managing Director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, Umar Abubakar, says the fund has put in place the necessary framework to provide succor to Nigerian workers. But in this interview with Soni Daniel and Binta Abudulazeez Idris, the MD says the agency is yet to start the implementation of welfare package for unemployed Nigerians. Excerpts:
What does the NSITF do for Nigeria??
Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, is supposed to provide social security coverage for Nigerians. This this is the basic duty of our organization. In doing that, we have a number of branches of social security but I will concern myself with those that affect NSITF.
Other branches have to do with NHIS. PENCOM which is limited to pension, while NHIS is limited to health care provision. In our own case we have a number of social security branches we are trying to implement: we are supposed to provide unemployment care, work injury protection, maternity coverage and quite a number of other things but they cannot all be done at once.
But it is good that government in its own wisdom introduced these things in phases. During the General Gowon administration, a committee was mandated to produce a report on social security provision for this country and this report is now before the government.
A policy is being drafted for the government for adoption so that there will be a social security flow for the country.
This will include a number of issues that will be of benefit to Nigerians, especially those that are not working and those that are old and fragile. This will protect them and there will be protection for people who are vulnerable; they will have protection under the new scheme that is coming up.
Another area of social security is work employment injury- what we call employee compensation scheme. It was formerly called Work Compensation Act, which was abolished a few years ago.
The government has a duty to protect everybody whether you are employed or not but in the case of those who are working, the employer is supposed to protect the worker to ensure the employee has adequate protection so that he or she can put in his or her very best.
What is the difference between what NSITF and PENCOM are doing?
The NSITF was in charge of paying pension to workers in the private sector until the government enacted the Pension Reform Act of 2004 to privatize the issue of pension. The Reform Act was created in such a way that any worker can go and register with any PFA (Pension Funds? Administrators) of their choice.
PENCOM is in charge of pension and also regulates the? PFAs just like the way CBN regulates banks. PENCOM is the overall regulatory body while in our own case we do not pay pension but compensation to workers in public and private sectors if anyone dies or gets injured or even suffers a disease as a result of work and later in life we will even take care of him.
Under the pension law there is what is called life assurance that is under pension, while in our case, one stands to gain two compensations; if you pay your PFA and you get injured, we will pay you compensation and you will get your pension.
Does NSITF cover states?
Yes it does. In fact, we are an old institution, which started as far back as 1961 and we have offices in almost all the states of the federation with the exception of the recently created states.
We are even going to extend our operations to cover local governments as well to be closer to the people.
How do you handle companies and other organistions that do not register with the NSITF?
The law says every organization should be registered and it’s a must so that its employees are protected. We give out forms and guide lines to ensure that all organizations get registered. Anytime there is a new scheme which involves collecting money, you have to do it in a way that people will understand, appreciate and cooperate with you.
We don’t start by? using force even though we have the backing of the law. We constantly continue to enlighten employers on the benefit of the scheme. A lot of them are responding and? are turning in their forms. It is after this stage that we will begin to apply force. For now, we encourage those who are not paying to pay as and when due.
From January this year we made it firm that anybody registered must pay? and we sent out our inspectors to go round and ensure compliance. If these companies and organizations are not paying, it is their employees that they are cheating.
How many Nigerians have benefited from your services, especially the unemployed ones?
The unemployed for now cannot benefit because they don’t have salaries and for now we are covering only those who have salaries. With time we will cover everybody. We have registered over 300 employers of labour with the NSITF and no fewer than 260 have been paying regularly.
The federal government has registered its workers and paying as at when due so others should follow suit. Government has not started paying coverage to the unemployed for now. It is an arm of social security which the government has not implemented yet but it will definitely come up later.
From your estimation how much do you think will be used to pay workers’ compensation yearly in Nigeria?
Nobody can give you an exact amount but what I will say is a scheme of this nature needs a large reserve to be built and this is what we are trying to do. This reserve will now be used to pay compensation, particularly to professions that are prone to accidents,? for example,? the police which lose many of their officers and men to attacks and other incidents.
By the time compensations are paid to their families and those of other accident- prone industries,? there would be a lot of compensation to be paid. In countries like Zambia and South Africa they have one of the best schemes in place; they have large reserve base to meet up with expenses.
Do you have the required cooperation from employers of labour?
There has been cooperation since the government wants employers of labour to pay, it pays its own promptly thereby setting an example. The multi nationals are paying because they know that in their own countries these schemes exist and they are aware of the implications of defaulting in remitting payments.
Those we are having problems with are the small time employers but a lot of the organized private sector players are paying.
What are your challenges?
My biggest challenge is for Nigeria to understand the scheme and the other one is for employers to start complying by paying, without us having to use force. The moment we overcome these challenges we will move ahead.
Are you happy with the progress of NSITF?
I am happy that the scheme has taken off and I am happy because the government has set the pace by paying up its contribution but I am not happy with the fact that, we have not gotten very far yet after one year of the scheme.
There are problems which we are trying to overcome such as funds, opening of offices and getting Nigerians to really understand what we are doing.
I believe that after all these we would be able to get everyone on our side. I am hoping that by this time next year I should be able to beat my chest to say we have achieved this much under the scheme.
What legacy do you want to leave behind?
I would want people to remember me for starting a scheme and making sure it blossoms and I want to be remembered for doing our best to look after the funds in our care.
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