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From Bimbola Oyesola
The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has called for a nationwide shift from mere workplace safety compliance to the entrenchment of a sustainable safety culture across all Nigerian industries, warning that preventable accidents continue to undermine productivity and human dignity.
The MSITF Managing Director, Barrister Oluwaseun Faleye, speaking at the Abuja’s NSITF–Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) Safe Workplace Intervention Project (SWIP) Mega Awards Ceremony, which marked the grand finale of the 2025 SWIP programme described the Abuja event as the “homecoming of safety,”.
He noted that it capped a 12-day nationwide SWIP journey that commenced at the NSITF headquarters and moved through major industrial centres, including Lagos and Enugu, before returning to the Federal Capital Territory.
According to Faleye, the SWIP initiative represents Nigeria’s deliberate transition from reacting to workplace accidents after they occur to proactively preventing them, while recognising organisations that have embedded worker protection as a core business value rather than a regulatory obligation.
“A safe workplace is an efficient workplace, and a protected worker is a productive worker,” Faleye said, explaining that SWIP is a strategic partnership between the NSITF as regulator and NECA as operator, designed to foster collaboration rather than confrontation in occupational safety enforcement.
He highlighted a policy shift within the agency from what he described as “reactive compensation” to “proactive prevention,” stressing that preventing accidents and occupational diseases is far more beneficial to workers, employers and the national economy than paying compensation after harm has occurred.
Faleye emphasised that sustained training, access to accurate information and consistent safety awareness are critical to transforming safety from a compliance checklist into a daily habit embedded within organisational culture at every level of operation.
Congratulating the recipients of the Abuja Mega Awards, the NSITF Managing Director charged them to see the recognition not as an endpoint but as a responsibility, urging them to act as safety ambassadors and role models within their respective sectors.
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In her remarks, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mrs Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to protecting Nigerian workers, declaring that workplace safety is a legal obligation and not an option employers can choose to ignore.
Onyejeocha highlighted the economic importance of the northern region, drawing attention to high-risk sectors such as mining, construction, manufacturing and agro-processing, and stressed that safety in these industries must be treated as a responsibility rather than a discretionary cost.
While acknowledging the Employees’ Compensation Act of 2010 as a strong framework for supporting injured workers and their families, the minister maintained that compensation alone was insufficient to address Nigeria’s workplace safety challenges.
According to her, the government’s priority is prevention, insisting that workers should not have to suffer injury, disability or death before corrective action is taken.
She described SWIP as a practical platform that brings employers, regulators and workers together to identify risks, build capacity and prevent accidents.
The minister issued a stern warning to employers who disregard occupational safety laws, stating that the government would no longer tolerate practices that endanger lives in the name of productivity or profit.
She warned that violators would face sanctions and prosecution, including charges of manslaughter where negligence leads to death, while commending organisations recognised at the event for demonstrating that strong labour standards and profitable businesses can coexist.
At the ceremony, 32 organisations received various categories of awards, ranging from plaques to safety gear and ambulances, reinforcing the call on employers nationwide to invest deliberately in workplace safety and make the protection of workers a shared national responsibility.
