By Cross Udo, Abuja
The Managing Director/Chief Executive of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, Barr. Olúwaṣeun Faleye, on Tuesday, said workplace safety and social protection are fundamental pillars of social justice.
Faleye made this assertion in his lead paper at Breakout Session Vl at the Annual NBA Conference in Enugu on Tuesday.
In his presentation titled: “Enhancing Workplace Safety and Social Protection: The Role of the Employees’ Compensation Act 2010,” the NSITF MD said:
“Workplace safety and social protection are not optional luxuries; they are fundamental pillars of social justice, human dignity and economic sustainability.”
Highlighting the significance of workplace safety and social protection, Barrister Faleye said, “They ensure dignity, peace of mind, and assurance that one’s labour will not become a source of tragedy for one’s family.
“They reduce the burden on the healthcare system, mitigate poverty and enhance national competitiveness.”
Emphasising the importance of workplace safety and social protection to human rights, he said they are “as much about human rights as they are about economic development.” He posited that “a nation that fails to protect its workers fails to protect its future.”
Faleye further explained that the enactment of the Employees’ Compensation Act 2010 was a watershed in social protection in Nigeria.
Juxtaposing the ECA with its predecessor, the Workmen’s Compensation Act, he said the ECA was more expansive and inclusive in its scope and coverage.
Other pluses of the Act, according to him, were conformity with global best practices, the elimination of winding legal battles, and the creation of a pool, thereby shifting burdens and addressing poverty traps induced by disabilities or deaths.
Earlier in the paper, the NSITF boss lauded the NBA for being the “conscience of the nation, a defender of rights, a champion of Justice, and a custodian of the democratic ideals that give meaning to our collective existence” over the decades.”
In the same vein, Alhaji Abdul-Lateef Musa, the General Manager of Compliance at the NSITF, presented a paper at the session.
Titled, Institutional Barriers to Effective Enforcement: the Role of Compliance Employees’ Rights and Strategies for Bridging Gaps between Policies and Workplace Practice, ” it interrogated compliance with the ECA 2010 as the backbone of the Employees’ Compensation Scheme and a catalyst for justice.
