Home GOVERNMENT NSITF Begins Nationwide Campaign to Enforce Employees’ Compensation Scheme for Civil Servants

NSITF Begins Nationwide Campaign to Enforce Employees’ Compensation Scheme for Civil Servants

by Radarr Africa
NSITF Begins Nationwide Campaign to Enforce Employees’ Compensation

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has launched a service-wide sensitisation campaign to fully implement the Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS) across the federal civil service. This move is part of the Fund’s effort to enhance social protection for Nigerian public sector workers.

The Managing Director of NSITF, Mr Oluwaseun Faleye, led a delegation to the office of the Head of the Federal Civil Service, Mrs Esther Walson-Jack, to officially begin the campaign. The meeting marked the formal start of sensitisation efforts aimed at educating and involving civil servants in the scheme.

Mrs Walson-Jack pledged her total support for the initiative, assuring the NSITF of close collaboration through the Service Welfare Office. She noted that the ECS, as outlined in the Employees’ Compensation Act, has long awaited a decisive push to become fully operational within the federal workforce. She expressed delight that the implementation phase has now begun.

“I want to assure you that this office, through the Service Welfare Office, will give you all the support, all the encouragement, and will work with you to ensure that this Scheme comes on board this year 2025, and that it comes to stay,” she said.

Faleye, on his part, appreciated the Head of Service’s welfare efforts and her openness to initiatives that prioritise workers’ well-being. He said his role in the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2025 (FCSSIP2025) committee gave him a platform to emphasise the importance of ECS in discussions focused on welfare issues like housing and health.

“We felt that what was key for us was how to sustainably implement and deepen initiatives that were already available but not implemented,” Faleye said. “And in that regard, what was key for us was to ensure that our core mandates are reflected and highlighted as we discussed the initiatives at the FCSSIP2025.”

He reaffirmed NSITF’s readiness to break down the barriers preventing full adoption of the ECS in the federal civil service, including administrative, structural, and financial constraints. He also acknowledged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for directing that all outstanding government obligations under the scheme be paid.

“The Employee Compensation Scheme is a work-related social insurance mandated by law, designed to compensate Nigerian workers for injuries, disabilities, death, or diseases arising in the course of their duties,” Faleye explained. “We are at the forefront of ensuring that this scheme is fully operational, especially within the large ecosystem of the federal civil service.”

He noted that some financial obligations under the scheme have already been met, while others are pending. The NSITF continues to liaise with the Ministry of Budget and the Ministry of Finance to guarantee timely payments, he added.

“This is to ensure that we can provide these very vital services to civil servants in fulfilment of President Bola Tinubu’s promise to always support the civil servants serving Nigerians,” he said.

Mrs Walson-Jack, recalling her previous role as Permanent Secretary in the Staff Welfare Office in 2017, noted that discussions around ECS had begun many years ago but never materialised. She thanked Faleye and his team for their persistence in pushing the scheme to the current milestone.

She also acknowledged President Tinubu’s focus on civil servant welfare, referencing the recent approval of the Group Life Assurance Scheme by the Federal Executive Council as another step in that direction.

“This is another feather in the bag of welfare initiatives that this administration has come to be known for,” she concluded.

The sensitisation campaign is expected to continue across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to raise awareness among civil servants and ensure broad participation and implementation of the scheme by the end of 2025.

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