THE Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) on Friday said it has paid N1,170,409,977.02 as claims and compensations to 23, 615 registered employers, employees, and their dependents.
The agency said this was done in one year, adding that it had moved very far from what it met on the ground.
The agency said the claims and compensation included medical expenses refund to 603 employers, loss of productivity to 174 employers, death benefits to 10,610 beneficiaries of deceased employees as well as disability benefits, and retirement benefits to 3506 disabled employees among others.
The Fund also said it was working on a plan to ensure that applications from victims of work accidents who file for compensations or claims are processed and paid within ten days.
The Managing Director, NSITF, Michael Akabogu disclosed this during the Management Performance Review meeting in Abuja on Friday.
“The NSITF under this administration has been touching the lives of workers and their dependants with a total of 23, 615 claims and compensation, worth N1,170,409,977.02 – One billion, one hundred and seventy million, four hundred and nine thousand, nine hundred and seventy-seven Naira , two kobo paid in the last one year. We have moved very far from what we met on the ground.
“We have also implemented a merit-based staff promotion exercise and demonstrated that you don’t need a godfather to earn promotion where you deserve it. The promotion examination for graduation into the management cadre has just been held yesterday while other carders will take theirs in September. We can’t do less.
“We have equally paid the Consequential Adjustment of the Minimum Wage with relevant taxes deducted appropriately. It is now left for all of us to double our efforts to sustain the improved welfare, since the fund is non-treasury funded,” Akabogu said in a statement issued by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs, NSITF, Ijeoma Okoronkwo on Friday.
The managing director said the agency had built strong walls against negative trails that retarded its Employee Compensation Mandate, saying it had met all targets set in the last one year.
Akabogu said the strategic reforms unveiled a year ago had not only frontloaded transparency and accountability in the operations of the fund but have also broken new grounds in expanding the execution of its mandate.