The Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Muhammad Dingyadi, and the Managing Director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Oluwaseun Faleye, have called for the adequate provision of a social security system for Nigerian employees under the Employee Compensation Scheme (ECS).
The call was made on Monday in Lagos during the 2025 retreat for the National Assembly Joint Committee on Employment, Labour, and Productivity.
The event, themed ‘Building a Sustainable Future: Strengthening Social Security & Enhancing Labour Productivity in Nigeria’, was organized by the NSITF.
Dingyadi highlighted the need for strategic reforms to expand coverage, improve benefits, and ensure the sustainability of the country’s social insurance programs.
“We must strive to create a robust social security system that provides adequate protection for workers against income loss due to unemployment, disability, old age, and other contingencies,” he stated.
According to the minister, a well-motivated workforce is a more productive one, and motivation goes beyond just wages and salaries. He emphasized that the ability to produce can be lost either temporarily or permanently due to work hazards, and the ECS, established by the Employee Compensation Act of 2010, was designed to address such situations.
The Act mandates that all employers in Nigeria enroll their workers in the scheme at no cost to the employee, ensuring just and equitable compensation for injuries, diseases, disabilities, or death.
In his remarks, Faleye stressed the agency’s commitment to enforcing the implementation of the compensation scheme at both the local and state government levels.
He further called for an amendment to the ECS law to include members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and interns in the scheme.
“We must do more in terms of enforcement so that workers and employers can know their duties,” Faleye said.
“It’s important for the private sector to know there’s a need for compliance with the scheme.”
He added that strengthening the ECS is critical to building a resilient workforce that can withstand shocks, noting that both the private and public sectors are the backbone of Nigeria’s economic growth.
Faleye noted that between June and July, the NSITF paid a total of N172.5 million to seven beneficiaries, with a significant 151 percent increase in employee enrollment during the same period.
