Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives investigating the non-remittance of contributions into the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), has queried concerned organisations over the practice.
The committee has thus, urged the Federal, State and Local Governments, their Agencies and Parastatals as well as private companies to immediately pay all contributions due to the NSITF with a view the Fund to meet up its noble objectives for which it was created.
It also urged well-meaning Nigerians, especially employers of labour, to pay their contributions to the Fund so that workers can be guaranteed their dues when the needs arises
Represented at the opening session of the investigative hearing by Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Ado Doguwa, on Monday, Speaker of the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila said there is total non-compliance to the laws on employees compensation.
The Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila said NSITF was created to meet a specific need of providing adequate compensation for all employees or their dependents, in the event of death, injury, disease, or disability arising from, or in the course of their employment.
“The mandate of this committee is therefore simply to identify what factors may be mitigating against full compliance with the requirements of the law in this instance, and to make recommendations thereto on what we in the House of Representatives can do to achieve full compliance, and properly penalize those who refuse to do what is required of them”, the Speaker stated.
Earlier, Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Sada Soli in his address disclosed that in Nigeria, the Coal and Petroleum sectors produced the highest cases of fatality and injured persons which is about 16.6 percent cent compared to 5.9 percent amongst woodworkers.
“We must remember that the whole idea behind the NSITF was to ensure that workers were not abandoned during the most vulnerable period of their lives when they could no longer look after themselves or their families”, he said.
