Ngige urges employees to patronise social security

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has advised organised labour to explore the social security opportunities in the Employees Compensation Act for the benefit of workers saying that the act is a social security and welfare scheme that provides comprehensive compensation for workers.

He said,‘’We ask you to go a step further. The Employees Compensation Act being implemented by Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) today is for the benefit of workers and also for their employers.It protects workers from accidents, death and disabilities in the course of work. It makes provision for their families to be protected financially too.’’

He added that under the law, ‘’the dependents in the family can be trained up to university level, while the widow or widower is given something for sustenance.

The minister said,“It is a social protection that must be exploited by labour, NSITF being a tripartite organisation where labour and employers, under the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, have representatives on the board.”

Ngige said the active participation of labour was required to ensure the fund was not mismanaged.

Also, the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Ayuba Wabba, said the union would partner the Inspectorate Department of the ministry to ensure the sustenance of minimum standards for factory workers.

Wabba decried the lack of factory inspectorate officers for effective service delivery to address alleged maltreatment of workers in some private organisations.

He called for the revival of the department to ensure that it was able to carry out factory inspection.

Joy Ekeke