From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Clerk of the National Assembly, Sani Tambawal Magaji, has called for an amendment of the Employees Compensation Act 2010, to strengthen the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) and align its processes with current realities.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Fund’s Spokesperson, Nwachikwu Godson on Wednesday.
According to the statement, the Clerk made the suggestion during a courtesy call by a delegation of the NSITF at the NASS Complex Complex in Abuja .
Magaji, who was represented by the Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana said the amendment is important considering the dynamic responsibilities entrusted to the fund and pledged the support of the National Assembly bureaucracy towards it.
He said, “To ensure that workers who suffer workplace related injuries, disability and occupational diseases get prompt and proper attention in rehabilitation or compensation from the NSITF, I am suggesting an improvement in the administrative process and the need to strengthen the enabling act by amending relevant social sections in tandem with current realities.
The Clerk said this was important to eliminate complaints arising from the inability of injured workers to access prompt relief but commended the fund for its contributions to the workers’ welfare .
He added, “I commend the NSITF for identifying the National Assembly as a worthy partner in delivery of the public service. The National Assembly equally recognizes the Importance of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund in catering for employees’ social needs and securing them against harmful occurrence in and out of the workplace.
“I acknowledge that the NSITF is performing its critical role in providing compensation to insured employees and their dependants in case of workplace disease disabilities, injuries or death, in and out of the workplace.”
He further urged the agency to urgently tackle the case of delayed payment of compensations to a deserving staff of the National Assembly who suffered a workplace injury, while pledging to look into the outstanding remittances of the National Assembly employers to the NSITF.
Replying to all the issues raised by the Clerk, NSITF Executive Director of Finance and Investment, Adegoke Adedeji who represented the Managing Director, Maureen Allagoa said the NSITF would remain committed to the discharge of its mandate and promised that all the concerns raised would be promptly tackled.
Clearing the ambiguity over the Pension Fund and the role of the NSITF, Adegoke, explained that the Pension Reform Act of 2004 severed all pension responsibilities from the NSITF and handed all to PENCOM.
He said, “one of the products the NSITF dispenses incorporates pension for disabled persons. So, when we are paying monthly disability benefits to those injured at work or in the course of work, we also add 10% which is the employers contribution of their disability benefits into their Retirement Savings Account (RSA). So, we still have a leg in pension but not for those who retired from work but for those who are disabled at work. We still pay them some pension.”
Also differentiating the responsibilities of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) from the services of the NSITF, Adegoke said, “The NHIS is a contributory scheme that employers pay and it is basically for all health challenges, but, for NSITF, we take care of work related injuries, and they must occur at work or in the cause of work.
“Under the ECA, if you are injured at work, we give you what is called Medical Expense Refund (MER). So, all the expenses that the person has incurred while the injury is being treated, we refund those ones. We also pay what is called disability benefits, for those who have lost an arm, a leg, an eye, etc. At the back of the Act, there’s a schedule that states the percentage which we have to pay, so we pay those people.
“There are people that are on our payroll every month. As we are paying our salaries, we are paying their disability pensions on a monthly basis. Also, for all persons who died at work or in the cause of work, we pay their dependants a portion of their salary. For example, if someone died at work and their spouse is fully dependent on the person and has two or more children, that person will get 90% of the last payment that the person was receiving at work. We have people we are paying N1,300,000 every month, people we are paying N1,600,000 every month.
“I am just giving you some examples. This will continue until the last child is 21 years of age or graduates from a tertiary institution. So every month we are paying salaries to persons that have lost their spouses. Now, the last one is occupational diseases, which is where the case of National Assembly staff falls into. Those who have been exposed to workplace issues that can cause death are those that we take care of under occupational diseases.”
He also apologized for the delay in the payment of compensation to an injured staff of the National Assembly and confirmed that it would be made in no distant time. He further said the Fund intends to open a desk at the Health Services Directorate of the National Assembly to further open up access to the Fund’s services as part of prioritizing liaison with the assembly.