The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has strongly opposed proposed amendments to the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) and Employees’ Compensation Act (ECA), describing them as attempts to politicise workers’ contributions.
NLC President, Mr. Joe Ajaero, made this position clear on Thursday in Abuja while speaking at the 2025 Annual Conference of the Labour Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria (LACAN).
Ajaero warned that organised labour would resist any move to divert funds meant for injured workers and their families, stressing that the money “belongs solely to Nigerian workers.”
“This Fund is the lifeblood of workers’ solidarity. It was contributed by workers for their welfare, not as a political slush fund. We will resist this appropriation with every fibre of our being,” he declared.
He accused those behind the amendments before the Senate of trying to “capture and politicise” the NSITF and urged the National Assembly to suspend all plans that could undermine workers’ protection, collective bargaining, and decent work standards.
Ajaero also condemned the proposed Special Economic Zone laws, saying they would allow some companies to operate outside national labour standards. “These laws will create islands of impunity where workers have no voice and no rights,” he said, adding that such provisions would violate ILO Conventions 87 and 98.
He urged journalists covering labour issues to continue exposing anti-worker policies, describing them as “comrades of the pen.”
“Your recorders and keyboards are as powerful as our placards. Together, we must counter misinformation and defend the dignity of the Nigerian worker,” he charged.
In his remarks, Mr. Olusoji Oluwole, President of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance, and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), decried the growing trend of casualisation in the financial sector. He revealed that over 60 per cent of bank employees in Nigeria were now contract or outsourced workers, a situation that began as a cost-saving measure in the early 2000s but has since become entrenched.
“What began as a temporary measure has now become permanent,” Oluwole lamented, adding that contract workers faced poor pay, job insecurity, and lacked essential benefits.
Also speaking, NSITF Managing Director Mr. Oluwaseun Faleye, represented by Mrs. Bridget Ashang, explained that the ECA was established to protect workers in high-risk sectors such as oil and gas. She criticised the non-compliance of some employers, especially in the upstream sector, describing it as “a dangerous disregard for the law and human life.”
Ashang noted that outsourcing and casualisation had complicated enforcement by blurring employer responsibility and leaving many injured workers uncompensated.
The Director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Country Office for Nigeria, Dr. Vanessa Phala, stressed that poverty and inequality remained harsh realities for millions of Nigerians. She urged the government to prioritise decent job creation, skills development, and social protection, describing decent work as “the most effective route out of poverty.”
