NSITF Pushes for Stronger Legal Enforcement of Employees’ Compensation Scheme

By Chinedu Echianu

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has called for stronger legal enforcement mechanisms to ensure full compliance with the Employees’ Compensation Act (ECA), 2010 — a law designed to improve workers’ welfare and promote safer workplaces across the country.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Fund, Barrister Oluwaseun Faleye, made the call through the Abuja Regional Manager, Mrs. Bridget Ashang, at the Annual Labour Conference of the Labour Correspondents Association of Nigeria (LACAN) held in Abuja.

Faleye, who presented a paper titled “Employees’ Compensation Enforcement: Issues and Challenges in the Oil and Gas Industry,” emphasized that institutional accountability must move from “persuasion to enforcement.”

“In the oil and gas industry, where operations involve high capital, complex processes, and significant occupational hazards, the protection of workers through a strong and enforceable compensation mechanism is not only a statutory obligation — it is a moral duty and an ethical necessity,” he said.

Faleye described the Employees’ Compensation Act as a “bold and visionary” step by government to protect Nigerian workers from occupational hazards, replacing the outdated Workmen’s Compensation regime with a no-fault, employer-funded social insurance system that guarantees a safety net against deprivation and income insecurity.

He stressed that enforcement of the ECA is even more crucial in the oil and gas sector — Nigeria’s economic mainstay — where workplace risks and potential consequences of neglect are particularly severe.

According to the NSITF boss, major obstacles to effective enforcement in the sector include:

Non-compliance and evasion by employers

Outsourcing and casualisation of workers

Low awareness of ECA provisions

Weak sanctions

Poor workplace safety culture

Faleye noted that the NSITF has introduced several reforms to address these challenges. These include:

Periodic inspection of employers’ records

Digitalization of registration and remittance processes

Simplification of claims and compensation procedures

Intensive stakeholder engagement

Inter-agency collaborations

Enhanced workplace safety and health measures

Looking ahead, Faleye advocated a comprehensive review of the enforcement provisions of the ECA to increase penalties for defaulting employers.

He further recommended that:

Compliance with the Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS) be made a mandatory prerequisite for company licensing or renewal.

A unified labour data system be created for seamless monitoring.

Labour inspectors be adequately trained and equipped to reach even the most remote work sites.

Persistent defaulters be publicly named and shamed to serve as deterrent.

The Employees’ Compensation Act (ECA) 2010 established the Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS), entrusting the NSITF with the responsibility of providing fair and adequate compensation, rehabilitation, and reorientation for workers—or their dependents—who suffer injuries, diseases, disabilities, or death in the course of employment. Under the Act, employers are required to remit one percent of their employees’ salaries to the Fund.