Ngige raises technical team on expansion of employees scheme to informal sector

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige has constituted a technical team to work on the possibility of extending the Employees Compensation Scheme (ECS) to the informal sector of the economy.

The Minister, who revealed this in Abuja while welcoming the Senate Committee on Labour and Employment to the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) headquarters, explained that one of the challenges facing the implementation of ECS is extending its coverage to the informal sector of the economy, explaining that the difficulty is as a result of the flexibility of the informal sector’s earnings.

Dr Ngige, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Clement Illoh, however expressed optimism that the challenges would soon be surmounted as the Ministry has constituted a technical committee to work on the expansion initiative.

The Minister noted that the statutory functions of parastatals under the ministry are well articulated to ensure national growth and development.

The Minister lauded the Senate committee for supporting the parastatals under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, saying such gesture would boost productivity for national growth and development.

On his part, the Acting Managing Director of the NSITF, Ismail Agaka, has urged the National Assembly to expedite legislative action on the proposed expansion of the social security mandate of the Fund.

Agaka assured that NSITF would not shy away from its principal responsibility, which is the judicious implementation of the Employees’ Compensation Scheme, noting that, “since NSITF began the implementation of ECS, which replaced the Workmen’s Compensation Scheme, it has settled claims of over seven thousand workers to the tune of N700 million”, adding that the beauty of the ECS, is being “a no fault scheme, meaning that NSITF must pay even if the employee is at fault.

“Over 45, 000 employers have already been registered for the ECS. We however solicit the support of the Committee to help the Fund extend the Scheme to Nigerian employees who are not yet covered, in whose interest the Scheme was designed.”

The NSITF boss promised that every contribution to the Fund would be accounted for as its transparency and accountability hallmark, saying the money contributed by the employers is entrusted to NSITF for safe keeping.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Labour and Employment, Senator Suleiman Nazif, who led the delegation, said by the working visit, the Committee was exercising its constitutional oversight function, noting that such visit presents an opportunity to interact with NSITF management staff, listen to their challenges and ask questions, so that the Committee could assist the organisation achieve its goals.

Speaking further, Nazif said that the Committee would also look critically into the strategic implementation plan as contained in the Fund’s 2016 budget, study the 2017 budget proposal and make necessary inputs, in order to ensure greater transparency and accountability.