NSITF sets up health, safety desks nationwide
Deputy General Manager, Enforcement, Kameeldeen Jimoh (left); Deputy General Manager, Administration, Agboma Okoroafor and Principal Manager, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), all of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), in commemoration of World Day of Safety and Health at Workplace.
To enhance the implementation of its mandate, the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has set up health and safety desks in all its branches within the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The move, the Fund said, was to engage in various health and safety activities such as Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) enlightenment, OSH audit/inspection, accident investigations and various advocacies.
Regional Manager, Lagos Regional Office, Abdul-Lateef Musa, revealed this when the Fund embarked on a road show to sensitise and educate the public on the need of practising safety in the workplace, in commemoration of World Day of Safety and Health at Workplace, marked every April 28.
Part of the advocacies, he said, is the well entrenched Safe Work Intervention Projects (SWIP), which is currently running with compliant employers that have keyed into its Employee Compensation Scheme (ECS).
According to him, selected employers that have met high health and safety standards in a period of one year are handsomely rewarded with items like ambulances and certificate excellence, issued by the Fund.
Noting that the Fund, established by the Federal Government, was for the protection and benefit of all workers, both in the private and public, formal and informal sectors of Nigeria.
Speaking on the theme ‘Enhancing social dialogue towards a culture of safety and health’, the NSITF boss said the day was set aside by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to promote the prevention of incidents and diseases at workplaces.
He said based on the ILO’s OSH Convention 2006, NSITF calls for the adoption of a national OSH policy, built through tripartite consultation and discussions with all relevant stakeholders.
He said government, alongside relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), needed to build and maintain a preventive OSH culture that ensured that workers’ health and safety remained a priority in the national agenda.
To achieve this, Musa said adequate resources should be commited to the creation of robust awareness of OSH (risks, hazards), prevention and control.
Speaking also, Deputy General Manager, Administration, NSITF, Agboma Okoroafor, while commemorating the day, encouraged organisations to imbibe the culture of safety in their work place, by ensuring that safety procedures are in place and strictly adhered to.
She added that while the NSITF seeks to provide social security protection and safety nets for all Nigerians against deprivation and income security, in accordance with ILO Conventions and other world best practices, the Fund would continue to ensure proper social dialogue towards a culture of safety and health.
Deputy General Manager, Enforcement, Lagos office of the NSITF, Kamal-deen Jimoh, enjoined all employers of labour to key into the ECS.
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