Chairman, House of Representatives committee on Labour and Employment, Onyewuchi Ezenwa, has stressed the need to revisit the bill on social security which was passed by the 7th Assembly but was not assented to by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Ezenwa, who stated this when he led members of the committee on a visit to the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) headquarters in Abuja, said the delay in signing of the Bill into law is a huge setback in the implementation process of social security programmes in the country,
It would be recalled that the 7th National Assembly had passed the Social Security Bill sponsored by the NSITF in the twilight of the last administration, but the former President did not sign the Bill into law before he left office.
Speaking during the visit, a member of the committee, Ayi Ekpenyong, said the NSITF was in the proper place and shape to handle the implementation of the nation’s social security programmes.
He faulted federal government on the planned disbursement of N5,000 to some category of Nigerians because it was not ‘properly domiciled’ in its present position.
Earlier, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Dr Clement Illoh, explained that the previous administration did not assent to the Social Security Bill passed by the 7th National Assembly because of the challenge of funding.
Illoh who is a member of the NSITF Board, further disclosed that a technical committee had been set up by the ministry to further work on the bill.
According to him, the challenges facing NSITF were non-compliance by many organisations and government agencies, stringent policies and legislations as well as capacity building.
He urged the committee to review the statute backing the Fund, disclosing that the NSITF being a member of the International Social Security Association (ISSA), was implementing only the Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS), which is only one of the 12 social security components.
In his remark, the acting Managing Director of NSITF, Ismail Agaka, said that the Fund has been collaborating with the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) on workplace safety awareness campaign to further reduce the incidents of workplace accidents.
According to Agaka, the Fund would soon embark on a nationwide awareness campaign in its determination to take NSITF to the doorsteps of employers, employees and Nigerians in general.
