ILO - NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA

ILO: NSITF commits to improved social security, health, safety

Ismail Abdulaziz
Jun, Thu, 2025

Foreign

ILO: NSITF commits to improved social security, health, safety

78 total views today

By Joan Nwagwu

Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) says the Federal Government is committed to improving social security, health and safety of Nigerian workers at workplaces.

Mr Oluwaseun Faleye, NSITF Managing Director, said this at the ongoing 113th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

He said that the Fund was currently embarking on Occupational Health and Safety (OSH) audits at workplaces to ensure safety of workers in line with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention.

“That’s why we collaborate with employers to make workplaces safe and further deepen all of the issues regarding health and safety in the workplace.

“That is why we are at the forefront of undertaking Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) audits in relevant organisations and creating the awareness.

“Of course, the way it works for us here when we come to a platform like this is to further broaden our knowledge and our capacity in bringing cutting-edge standards relating to Health, Safety and Environment (HSE).

“So that we can take it back home and further engage within that ecosystem,” he said.

He said that the NSITF has been making efforts to ensure that the workplace was conducive and workers who suffer injury at work can also get a reprieve on time.

He said that decent work was within the mandate of NSITF and related to its responsibilities under the HSE.

“So for us, promoting decent work is really doing more within that core mandate of HSE and that of course takes us to the other issue of employees’ compensation itself when there are injuries.

“The synergy between a decent and safe working environment also impacts on employee injury and the threshold about that.

“So, when we improve HSE components within workplaces, you see that injuries and all of that come relatively down.

“We’re also very open and responsible to our mandate regarding prompt payment of compensation, and we’ll continue to do that,” he added.

Faleye said that the Fund was making efforts at integrating the informal sector under the scheme as enormous opportunities abounds there, noting that the responses from the sector has been great.

Faleye said that the ILO conference has been a great platform to share ideas, deepen capacity, and enhance further collaboration with the ILO.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Ismail Abdulaziz

ILO: Participants urge FG to apply convention resolutions

Ismail Abdulaziz
Jun, Tue, 2025

Foreign

ILO: Participants urge FG to apply convention resolutions

84 total views today

Joan Nwagwu

Some participants at the ongoing International Labour Conference (ILC) has called on Nigerian government to ratify resolutions reached at the various conferences.

Mr Olusoji Oluwole, National President of Association Senior Staff of Banks Insurance Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) said this on Tuesday at the ongoing 113th Session of the ILC in Geneva, Switzerland.

Oluwole said that it was imperative that the Federal Government’s delegates, led by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Alhaji Mohammed Maigari, ensured that the resolutions reached were implemented to better the lives of workers.

According to him, Nigeria should not just attend as a country, but endeavor to ratify all the resolutions that have been reached at the conference.

“What we found is that you find conventions being done, the country being signatories, but those conventions are not being implemented back in the country.

“It very, very important, that if we spend so much time discussing, negotiating, and coming to these agreements. I think it is just right that Nigeria should go back and implement these things.

“So that we know that the time that has been spent here is not actually wasted,” he said.

On contract staff, Oluwole clarified that it was not just financial industries that was dominant on the issue in the labour markets in Nigeria among others.

He said that the former Minister of Labour and Employment. Sen. Chris Ngige, had came up with a document on how to deal with the issue of casualisation, basically working with the employers and the providers of the services.

“It was agreed that staff who comes in as contract workers would have a means of transiting to becoming core staff.

“We are also aware that a number of organisations have actually started implementing it,” he said.

Also, on artificial intelligence taking over the job of its members, Oluwole desired it as an enabler rather than a replacer.

According to him, what we found is that AI is more of an enabler rather than a replacer, where it can become a replacer, is a situation where the organisation or our members do not upskill.

“A number of people we know may not be so savvy in the area of AI auditisation and what we keep encouraging them to do is to go ahead to improve themselves educationally in that area.

“We also encourage organisations to train their stuff in, support them, provide some kind of subsidy, give them room to be able to educate themselves in that regard,” he said.

Also, Mr Charles Okere, President of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Imo State, advised the government not to renege on their commitment on resolutions reached.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference started on June 2 and ends June 13.

The conference has representatives from government, employer and workers delegates from the ILO’s 187 member states.

It will address important world of work matters such as possible new international standards on the protection of workers against biological hazards in the working environment, decent work, among others.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Ismail Abdulaziz