Plans are underway by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, to unbundle the ministry in a bid to ensure higher productivity, efficiency and cohesion.

The minister, who disclosed this when he paid a working visit to the headquarters of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) in Abuja, revealed that he has set up an investigative committee that will be saddled with the responsibilities of resolving industrial crises rocking the Fund.

He added that the committee, which was inaugurated on Wednesday, is not an exercise to witch-hunt anyone, but one that raised to add value to the operations of the Fund.

His words: “We have received internal and external complaints against the management of the Fund which we intend to address since we came into office. We got complaints about unfair administrative practices, and also irregular promotions. We have complaints about the lack of vacancies amid the stagnation of staff. Court cases about disengagement of certain staff, and disharmony between in-house unions and management.

“Staff grievances on the irregularity of grade levels coalescing, employment of persons to fill up vacancies in the fund and staff conditions of service, disharmony among management staff of the fund, insubordination, no clear direction on the implementation of the e-NSITF phase 2. All these are meant to improve your services. It is not meant to witch-hunt anybody but be sure. I like using the word unbundling, but unbundling does not mean chasing people away.”

Speaking earlier, the Managing Director of the Fund, Maureen Allagoa, lauded the Minister for apprehending the suspended strike by labour. She told the Minister that the Fund has registered 145,000 employers and 7.4 million enrollees into its Employees’ Compensation Scheme since its establishment in 2011.

She disclosed that the Fund has started the implementation of a new salary structure as approved by the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) with effect from January 2023 to improve the welfare of its staff members.

“Management has provided operational vehicles for improved enforcement and compliance activities at the branches. Management had earlier distributed the first batch of 10 buses some months ago and has recently received 10 additional buses. The goal is to ensure that all the branches of the Fund have buses for their enforcement and compliance activities,” she stated.

Allagoa further hinted that the management of the Fund has equally established a new regional office in Owerri as part of its expansion policy to bring its services closer to the people bringing the total number of Regional offices to 12 and two Regional Offices in each of the six geo-political zones of the country.

She added: “The Fund is in the process of creating Service Delivery Centres across the country to further bring our services to the doorstep of all Nigerians. The Fund has also recorded tremendous achievements in the area of recovery of outstanding contributions, particularly in cases of management of recalcitrant employers. Our legal department has been up and doing in the prosecution of defaulting employers and even defaulting tenants in the properties owned by the Fund. This has resulted in the recovery of over N450m from cases won in court.”