FG: We Won’t Allow Employers to Sacrifice Workers’ Safety for Profit

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The federal government has said it will no longer tolerate employers and organisations that endanger the lives of Nigerians in the name of productivity.

The government’s resolve came just as the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) and Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) pledged to strengthen their partnership in promoting a culture of safe, healthy, and productive workplaces, while deepening awareness and compliance with the Employees’ Compensation Act (ECA), 2010.

Speaking at the unveiling of NSITF–NECA Safe Workplace Intervention Project (SWIP) for the northern zone in Abuja yesterday, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, said the federal government was focusing more on accident prevention, adding that compensation would now serve as a last resort.

Onyejeocha said, “Our priority as a government is prevention. Workers should not have to be injured or die before we act. The first duty of every employer and regulator is to ensure that accidents do not happen in the first place.

“Let me also be very clear on the position of government. This government will no longer tolerate employers who endanger Nigerians in the name of productivity.

“Creating jobs must never come at the cost of human lives. As the Bible reminds us, those who live by the sword shall die by the sword. Employers who violate occupational safety laws will be sanctioned, and where negligence leads to loss of life, they will be prosecuted in accordance with the law, including for manslaughter where applicable.

“We will not play politics with the lives of Nigerian workers. We will not create jobs and kill our people in the process. Safety is not optional. Safety is the law.”

The Minister also expressed the Ministry’s commitment to strengthening occupational safety and health enforcement, deepening compliance with the Employees’ Compensation Act, adding that it works with the private sector to build safer, fairer, and more productive workplaces.

In his remarks, the President of NECA, Dr. Ifeanyi Okoye, said workplace safety was no longer a regulatory obligation alone, but a strategic business imperative.

He said that through SWIP, NECA and the NSITF would continue to reinforce the message that prevention is better than compensation, and that safety must be embedded in organisational culture.

Managing Director of NSITF, Oluwaseun Faleye, spoke on the need for intensified action on the prevention of workplace accidents.

“The vision under this administration is to make compensation the last resort, not the first response.

“We are pivoting from a model of Reactive Compensation to Proactive Prevention. We would rather spend one naira teaching you how to prevent a fall than spend N1 million treating a spinal cord injury.

“We want your workers to go home to their families at closing time, not to the hospital,” he said

Highlights of the event included the presentation of various health and safety materials, including two brand new ambulance to organisations within the northern region, which came top in the safety assessment carried out last year.

While explaining the objective of SWIP, the Director General of NECA, Adewale-Smart Oyerinde, said the initiative was out to sensitise employers of labour on the need to imbibe the culture of safe and healthy working environment.