The management of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), under its Employee Compensation Scheme, (ECS), has said that they have spread their drag nets to include artisan, barrow pushers, traders as beneficiaries of their services.
The agency said their pre-occupation is to see that injuries, diseases and deaths that occur as a result of work are compensated.
The Regional Manager of NSITF, Dr. Emeka Offor, dropped this hint during the NSITF special day at the ongoing 36th Enugu International Trade Fair on Thursday.
Offor, represented by Branch Manager, Mrs Oraegbu Uzoamaka, noted that before now workers at big corporations, civil servants and big industries benefitted from their services but now they want many Nigerians to be part of the Fund.
He posited that in their quick response to compensate affected workers that suffer injuries in their work places, once they are notified of work related injuries, diseases and deaths, within 14 days.
He said once the person is registered with NSITF, and has proper documentation, compensation is paid immediately.
He noted that to prove that they are committed to compensating injured, sick or dead worker, they compensated a staff of the National Assembly recently with over N266 million.
“We are not looking for excuses not to pay. We have about 135 staff at the Fair that will attend to your complaints,” he points out
Miss Nkechinyere Jaja, who is in charge of the Informal Economy Department of the organisation stressed that because they want Nigerians to benefit from the Fund, traders, petty business owners and artisans now have hope of accessing the Fund in case of work related injuries, diseases and deaths.
“The artisans, street businesses are expected to benefit from NSITF. We are still growing the Informal economy to benefit from the Fund. Every barrow pushers will benefit from NSITF, not only big companies. Just register with us. Any time you have a job related injury, you stand to benefit,” she said.
Also speaking, the Safety Officer, Innocent Orji, said that they carry out investigation and when proven, they pay compensation without further delay.
“We carry out accident investigation and within 14 days you report to us in writing, we compensate you,” he said.
