NIGERIA’S WORKPLACE SAFETY CRISIS: A LACKING DATA, A GROWING CONCERN–NSITF M/D
GREATRIBUNETVNEWS– Nigeria’s Managing Director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Barrister Oluwaseun Faleye, has highlighted the country’s lack of accurate data on workplace accidents, hindering efforts to address occupational safety.
Key Issues:
– Inaccurate Data: Nigeria lacks proper data on workplace accidents, making it challenging to develop effective safety measures.
– Informal Economy: The huge informal sector contributes to poor occupational safety, with many workers unprotected.
– High-Risk Sectors: Certain industries pose significant risks to workers, with inadequate safety protocols in place.
– Non-Compliance: Institutional culture of non-adherence to safety and non-compliance with regulations exacerbates the issue.
– Global Impact: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports 2.8 million annual deaths from occupational accidents and diseases, with a global cost of 4% of global GDP.
– Need for Reform: The Employees Compensation Act is being reworked to address modern needs and improve workplace safety.
Other services provided by the Fund, according to Barrister Faleye, are rehabilitation and empowerment after workplace accidents, but most importantly, prevention of workplace hazards.
He implored legal practitioners, especially judges, to help advance the cause; taking social protection as a matter of right, avoiding technicalities in interpretations and through advocacy.
Delivering a keynote address, Justice Benedict Kanyip, President of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, thanked Barrister Faleye “for putting up this interactive session meant to be a robust engagement on employees’
compensation scheme (ECS) operations in Nigeria.”
He noted that although the
workshop is designed primarily for the benefit of judges of the
National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), the engagement is wide
enough to include Registry Staff of the Court, staff of the Commission,
lawyers and stakeholders as far as employees’ compensation is
concerned.
“Injury in workplaces is today a commonplace. Nigeria is expected to
adopt measures that prevent workplace injuries. And where injuries
do occur, to compensate for them,” he stressed as he explained that “Nigeria, by virtue of its membership
of the International International Organisation (ILO), is bound by these
twin objectives: to prevent, and compensate for, workplace injuries.
“It is for these that Nigeria ratified the ILO Occupational Safety and
Health Convention 1981 (C155) ratified on 3 May 1994 ; and the
Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006 (C187) ratified on 8 November 2022,” he said.
He said that any failure to extend compensation to all victims of occupational injuries would undermine Nigeria’s obligations under the C155 and C187.
He underscored the inalienable right of workers, saying:”A look at National Occupational Safety and Health Policy will show that Paragraph 4.1(d)
provides that the National OSH Policy applies to all Nigerian workplaces including formal and informal sector workplaces and covers the protection of workers and their representatives from
disciplinary measures as a result of actions properly taken to secure
safety and health at work.”
He also spoke on the weakness in the extant law.
He said: “Where an employer fails to remit his contribution as enjoined by section 33 of the ECA, it remains to be seen whether an employee, who is a victim of occupational injury but cannot claim from the NSITF under the ECA because of the non-remittance, can succeed against the employer for statutory negligence i.e. for failure to remit the contribution. Right now, only time will tell.”
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