The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has advocated for safety measures to be put in place in workplaces to ensure that workers are safeguarded from harm, News About Nigeria reports.
The Managing Director of the NSITF, Barrister Maureen Allagoa, made this call while speaking at the 2024 World Day for Safety and Health at Work.
In a statement issued by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Nwachukwu Godson, Allagoa noted that a robust occupational safety and health (OSH) programmes is needed if workplace accidents will be prevented, adding that the fund have been on this path since her assumption of office in 2023.
She also stated that the fund is more interested in the prevention of workplace accidents rather than on rehabilitation, payment of claims, or compensations, stressing that in its pursuit of the Safety at Work Agenda, it has conducted 5,592 occupational safety and health activities at various work places across the nation in the last one year.
“The prevention of workplace accidents through a robust occupational safety and health (OSH) programmes is the first step in the dynamic processes of the Employees’ Compensation. OSH is the primary charge in our responsibilities as the nation’s apex social security organisation. And we have pursued this life-saving process with all vigour since I assumed office about a year ago.
“The reason is that a well-managed NSITF anchors strongly on accident prevention rather than on rehabilitation, payment of claims, or compensations, which may be inversely proportional to the failure of occupational safety activities. Our target, therefore, is to intensify efforts and double the figure by this time next year,” she stated.
She, therefore, urged employers to ensure the use of proactive measures to safeguard the safety and well-being of workers in the face of climate change, while maintaining that the agency is fully committed to creating safe, healthy, and sustainable workplaces for all Nigerian workers.
