By Darlington Anule
Tuesday, October 2, was a good opportunity to x-ray the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) as the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong and the Minster of State, Nkiru Onyejeocha, paid a familiarization visit to the nation’s apex social security agency, charged with the cardinal responsibility of implementing Employee Compensation Act of 2010 to the Nigerian workers.
For an agency whom detractors and merchants of doomscrolling have perennially portrayed in bad light, it was a good window for the world to see the other side of the story.
The central place which the agency occupies in the overall success of labour administration in Nigeria and its pride of place in the world of work was not lost on Lalong who did not hide how important the visit was to his administration. The Minister noted that they would have visited much earlier, but for engagement in labour disputes, occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy, culminating in the lately averted general strike by the nation’s two labour centres. “Immediately after swearing-in, we called for people to come and make presentation, briefing. You made your briefing, other organizations did too. But after the whole briefing, we now took our time. I also realized that out of the agencies (under the ministry) I’m not saying others are not important, there is one we must focus on, if we want to succeed in that Ministry. That’s why we gave this priority to make this visit to your agency,” the minister said.
While Lalong acknowledged he had received many complaints about the agency since assuming office, he didn’t hide the fact that the NSITF under Maureen Allagoa has made tremendous achievements even in a very short period of time as he observed.
“We thank you very much for the welcome. We thank you because we wanted to see, to also visit some of the facilities to see first-hand because yes, we have seen achievements but we also saw complaints too. But the complaints are the familiar ones revolving around staff condition of service, promotions, court cases, insubordination, disharmony and unfair labour practices.”
For Allagoa who lately has been under fire by detractors and mischief-makers, it was time to set the records straight and she left no gaps at all. She said that despite challenges of compliance to contributions by organizations, she has greatly improved on synergy and collaboration towards ensuring that the NSITF delivers on its mandate.
“For instance, despite challenges, my management team got its ducks in a row, put thoughts together over the decade-long challenge of bringing the elastic benefits of the ECS to every worker in the public sector. In an unrelenting synergy with the former Minister of Labour and Employment, we got the unprecedented May 15, 2023 approval by the Federal Executive Council of President Buhari for the mandatory implementation of ECS in all ministries, agencies and parastatals of the federal government. We followed it up, resulting in the recent circular by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Akume to all MDAs to comply with the FEC approval.
“ Lest we forget, the NSITF has since 2011, registered over 145,000 employers and 7.4 million employees while paying claims and compensation to over 103,000 beneficiaries, including 111 persons who received artificial limbs and 11 others sent abroad for further medical treatment – all at a total cost of over N6.6 billion. The aggregate of these achievements in the last few years I have been in saddle, is a big chunk of the total.”
She added that NSITF has not only been paying compensations, but is also involved in promoting safety at workplaces, covering over 25,000 registered employers’ entity so far.
The Minister and the Minister of State listened patiently as the Managing Director reeled out more achievements.
“We have also successfully reviewed the staff condition of service last done 29 years ago, and cleared a backlog of gratuities, with nothing owed as of August 2023, further resolving age-long issues with pensioners. Away from the neglect of the past, we conducted promotion examinations in 2021, 2022 and 2023 while the process for 2023 management exams is already afoot. Besides, we seamlessly commenced the implementation of a new salary structure approved by the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) with effect from January 2023.”
Accountability has been an issue in the agency and how is Allagoa tackling it? “To enthrone transparency and accountability, and further bridge the span of turnaround of services, we are currently digitizing all our operations through the E-NSITF, and similarly inaugurated anti-Corruption Unit in conjunction with the ICPC,” she said. Apart from creating an additional region in Owerri to bring all to 12, operational buses were procured and sent to the regions and branches to ease services. The administration also saw to the return of cordiality for optimum productivity between the management and the domestic unions. Reflecting further on the state of the fund, Allagoa said: “There is no doubt that the gallant and resilient staff of the NSITF in the 12 regions and 46 branches are daily breaking new grounds, taking the ECS even to the informal sector.”
Palpable for any observer in the NSITF is the intense peer accountability vigilance among staff, ensuring that appropriated resources are responsibly deployed.
Labour watchers agree that though the current management has its problems, its achievements far outweighs those challenges.
When Caesar is blamed for dalliance with Cleopatra, it must also be balanced with the feat of the Julian calendar as well as advanced medicine which Rome under him, copied from Egypt, one would argue. This is in view of the deliberate efforts to overblow the challenges in the NSITF so as to muzzle and muffle the ongoing quiet revolution under Allagoa.
Labour watchers reckon that no administration since the Employee Compensation Act came into force in 2011, has equaled her records in less than two years in office as Executive Director, Administration and now, Managing Director.
It is at this point that one anchors the true essence of the unimpeachable words of Lalong during the visit, that there is no Ministry or agency without problem, but that the way forward lies in resolving them to ensure productivity does not suffer.
• Anulue, a labour activist, writes from Abuja