ECS Compliance: NSITF, CAC Set to Establish Data-Sharing Alliance

By Chinedu Echianu

In a bid to enhance compliance to the Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS), the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, (NSITF), has proposed collaboration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for the setting up of a data sharing portal.

Managing Director of NSITF, Barrister Olúwaṣeun Faleye, called for the collaboration at an inter-agency engagement between the Fund and CAC Wednesday, at CAC headquarters in Abuja.

A statement signed by the Head, Corporate Affairs Department of NSITF, Alexandra Mede states that the Managing Director who led a team of management staff of the Fund on a courtesy visit, acknowledged the leading role of CAC as a repository of corporate data in Nigeria.

It said while applauding the trust the Commission has built overtime, the NSITF MD stated that the Fund could leverage on that established trust to reach employers of labour in Nigeria and enhance compliance to the Employee Compensation Scheme of the Fund.

He added that the collaboration would mean building a resilient workforce, while stimulating better service delivery and ensuring claims and compensation are paid promptly.

“Most importantly is to understand the economic ramification of that social safety net, because if we do, then we begin to appreciate more why we think a collaborative engagement with CAC will be useful.

“My view is that if we build a social safety net for Nigerian workers, we are ultimately creating a resilient economy. Because what ultimately happens is that workers are able to give their ultimate best, knowing that if there are injuries or accidents as a result of work, they are covered one way or the other. And that’s really very important for their psyche and important for productivity” Faleye stated.

He enumerated the buy-in to the CAC to include awareness of their staff on the benefits accruing to them being compliant to the Employees´ Compensation Scheme, as well as minimizing workplace hazards through occupational health and safety audits; “One of the benefits is sensitization on Health and Safety in the workplace and OSH audits, which we undertake at no cost to you,” the NSITF MD said.

He commended CAC for complying with the Employee Compensation Act by enrolling it’s staff in the ECS, saying “the mandate of NSITF is the provision of social security in terms of adequate and transparent compensation and support for the Nigerian workers in times of workplace injuries, diseases, (including mental health), and deaths.”

He stated that the Fund’s mandate extended to ensuring workplace health and safety.

In his response, the Registrar General of CAC, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, buttressed the importance of the collaborative effort and the huge impact it would have on the country’s economy.

In his words:” You are meeting the largest regulator of the Nigerian economy. The Nigerian economy is operating through entities and all these entities are under the control of the Corporate Affairs Commission.

“Our responsibility is to register these businesses, supervise them, and regulate them. So you are honoured to come here to meet the regulator of the largest part of the Nigerian economy. This collaboration is important as it relates to compliance and the huge benefits to our country,” he added

The engagement meeting was a continuation in a series initiated by the NSITF Management to expand the social security towards a more resilient economy.