Get Guardian on GoogleWorkplace accidents and occupational diseases are threatening business productivity, increasing operating costs and weakening the competitiveness of Nigerian enterprises, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has warned.
It urged employers to prioritise workers’ safety as an investment in business sustainability.
The Chamber said workplace injuries not only expose employees and their families to financial hardship but also disrupt production, undermine workforce efficiency and threaten the long-term viability of businesses.
The warning comes as the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) disclosed that it brought 250,144 additional employees under its Employees’ Compensation Scheme between January and October 2026, representing an increase of about 55 per cent over the 160,971 employees covered throughout 2025.
The President and Chairman of Council, LCCI, Leye Kupoluyi, gave the warning at the NSITF Special Day of the 40th Lagos International Trade Fair in Lagos yesterday.
He argued that workforce protection should no longer be treated merely as a corporate social responsibility issue but as an investment in enterprise sustainability and economic competitiveness.
According to him, sustainable economic growth requires more than capital investment, trade expansion and business development, stressing that the health, safety and welfare of employees are equally critical to economic performance.
Kupoluyi urged businesses to take their statutory obligations under the Employees’ Compensation Scheme seriously and invest consistently in workplace health and safety.
He also called on the NSITF to strengthen the administration of the scheme through simplified registration and compliance processes, improved digital service delivery and timely payment of compensation to affected workers.
He stressed the need for greater public awareness, noting that preventing workplace accidents must receive as much attention as compensating workers who suffer occupational injuries or diseases.
Providing an update on the scheme’s implementation, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of NSITF, Oluwaseun Faleye, said the Fund had registered 17,435 additional employers between January and October 2026, bringing cumulative employer registration to 214,519 since the scheme commenced in July 2011.
He disclosed that the Fund had covered 8,005,027 employees across the public and private sectors and integrated 73 Ministries, Departments and Agencies into the scheme.
Despite the expansion, extending workers’ protection to smaller businesses and the informal economy remains a major challenge, particularly as informal employment accounts for approximately 93 per cent of total employment in Nigeria, according to the National Bureau of Statistics’ 2024 Labour Force Survey.
Faleye said many traders, artisans, transport operators, small-scale manufacturers and service providers remained outside conventional social protection arrangements, with some unaware of the existence and benefits of the Employees’ Compensation Scheme.
To address the gap, he disclosed that the Fund registered 2,133 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises between January and September 2026 as part of efforts to bring more businesses and their employees into the compensation framework.
He said the NSITF was intensifying engagement through markets, workshops, trade associations and business clusters to improve awareness and encourage compliance.
Under the Employees’ Compensation Act 2010, the scheme provides medical treatment, compensation for temporary or permanent disability, rehabilitation and vocational support to employees who suffer work-related injuries or occupational diseases. It also provides benefits for eligible dependents where a worker dies from a work-related injury or disease.
Faleye stressed that employers were responsible for the statutory one per cent contribution to the scheme, calculated on their total monthly payroll, warning that the amount must not be deducted from employees’ salaries.
