NSITF boss tasks youths on self-development initiatives

The Acting Managing Director of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Ismail Agaka, has called on Nigerian youths to acquire productive skills that will position them to become highflyers in corporate governance.

The NSITF boss stated this recently in Abuja when a delegation of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) led by its President, Murtala Muhammed, paid him a courtesy visit.

He added: “Rather than staying glued to social media and entertainment, youths must learn to develop themselves mentally to be sufficiently equipped for skilled functions and corporate governance.”

He charged youths to acquire the mentality of starting small, taking time to grow, thereby developing their decision-making skills instead of begging for handouts.

Agaka, who said he was sympathetic with youths for bearing the brunt of the prevailing economic climate in the country, also blamed many young persons for being indolent.

While reacting to Mr Muhammed’s submission that youths are not being carried along in nation building process, Agaka regretted that youths of today engaged in all sorts of social misdemeanour instead of productive ventures that could better their lives, saying it was pathetic that some youths, aged 35 to 40, still depend on their parents and guardians to eke out a living instead of the other way round.

Asked if roadside workers such as vulcanizers, mechanics, and other artisans were covered by the ECS, the Acting Managing Director explained that this group of workers, classified as the informal sector, are not presently covered by the scheme.

He added that the informal sector the scheme is owing to the flexibility of its income earnings, and explained that the provision of the scheme as it presently stands, can only accommodate the formal sector.

He however, said that the only way the informal sector can benefit from the Scheme for now, is for them to come under umbrella bodies such as cooperative societies, trade unions and associations.

He further disclosed that NSITF has done poverty mapping across the country and noted areas where there are high incidences of poverty and has submitted its report to the Federal Government.

Earlier, the NYCN’s President, Murtala Muhammed, said group is an umbrella body of all voluntary youth organizations in Nigeria under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports Development.Mohammed lauded the giant stride so far recorded by the NSITF in the implementation of the Employees Compensation Scheme.