Compliance with Employee Compensation Act Less Than 30%, Says NLC

•NSITF seeks harmonised legislation

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has decried the low level of compliance with the Employee Compensation Act, a social security initiative by the federal government meant to cushion the effects of workplace accidents on workers.

It also complained of the manner of operations of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) saying it negates the spirit of tripartite arrangement behind its establishment.

At present, NLC alleged that NSITF is to be treated as one of it’s parastatal by the federal government.

These were some of the issues raised by the NLC president Joe Ajaero at the Nigerian Senate Public Hearing on the NSITF Bill on Monday.

Ajaero said that NSITF is all about worker’s interest as represented by the tripartite structure involving, government, private employers and organized Labour centres.

He said the leadership of the Organised Labour is insisting that the appointment of the board chairman of NSITF should revolve among the tripartite stakeholders.

“The NLC is concerned that this is a tripartite organization and that this should be reflected in the composition of the board,” he said.

According Ajaero, the idea of appointing eight government representative, two for Labour and perhaps one from employers negates the principle of the tripartite template anywhere in the world.

He said the situation has enabled the government side to neutralize the position of others during boardroom politics.

His words: “The NLC is equally concerned that we should not have operations before pregnancy and as stakeholders (either as employers, government or labour) should have owned this arrangement because you are doing it for us.”

The NLC president further said that NSITF is funded by workers contribution, clarifying it is the money contributed by workers and their employers for the interest of the workers and so does not see the reason for playing boardroom politics to neutralize the interest of the workers.

He said that even the level of compliance to the Employee Compensation Act is less than 30 percent, adding that “this is an issue I expect the Ministry of Labour and NSITF management should endeavour to make should there is compliance.

“Even the informal sectors are not complying. Of what use are laws if they are not complied with.”

Regarding the proposed amendment, Ajaero said rather than insisting the NSITF managing director should report to the minister, it should be that he would report to the board.

On the representation on the NSITF board, Ajaero said it should be treated as tripartite with proper representation by the stakeholders.

He said that without a strong tripartite board, the powers given to the NSITF managing director can be used arbitrarily.

He said that there is a lot ambiguity in the proposed NSITF Amendment Bill.

On its part, the NSITF management said it wants the repeal of the NSITF Act (1993) and the ECA Act (2010) as the co-existence of the two Acts has generated conflicting provisions and operational ambiguities.

Managing Director of the Fund, Barrister Oluwaseun Faleye ,who made a presentation at the Public Hearing said: “The consolidation of both Acts into a single, coherent statute, the Nigeria Social Security Trust Fund Act is timely, necessary, and commendable.

“This harmonisation eliminates duplication, resolves conflicts, and strengthens the legal framework of the Fund”.

Speaking on the proposed change of name to “Nigeria Social Security Trust Fund”, Faleye said the removal of the term “Insurance” reflects stakeholder feedback gathered over several years.

“In many cultural settings, the term impeded acceptance of the Employees’ Compensation Scheme.

“The new name also positions the Fund to administer additional ILO-recognised contingencies of social security should Nigeria domesticate those areas in the future,” he said.

The NSITF Boss further said the Bill provides explicit powers for strengthening enforcement of Occupational Safety and Health as well as standards and sanctioning non-compliance.

“This addresses one of the major limitations of the current framework and is expected to reduce workplace accidents, improve safety culture, and lower the long-term financial burden on the Fund. (Ref: Section 4(1)(g) of the Bill,” he said.