To ensure the Employees’ Compensation Act(ECA), achieve its desired impact of improved welfare of workers and safety at the workplace, the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), has advocated shifting institutional accountability from persuasion to enforcement.

Managing Director and Chief Executive of NSITF, Barrister Oluwaseun Faleye who made the call at the annual conference of the Labour Correspondents Association of Nigeria (LACAN) at the weekend in Abuja, also called for stronger legal backing that would review enforcement provisions of the ECA and increase penalties for defaulting employers.

Faleye in a paper titled “Employees’ Compensation Enforcement: Issues and Challenges in the Oil and Gas Industry,” emphasized that in the oil and gas industry where operations were capital-intensive, complex, and hazardous, ensuring worker protection through a strong and enforceable compensation mechanism was both a statutory obligation and a moral duty.

Represented by the Abuja Regional Manager, Mrs. Bridget Ashang, he noted that the Employees’ Compensation Act of 2010 was a “bold and visionary step by the government to safeguard Nigerian workers against occupational hazards, replacing the old Workmen’s Compensation regime with a no-fault, employer-funded social insurance system that serves as a safety net against deprivation and income insecurity.”

According to him, this mandate carries even greater urgency in the oil and gas sector, Nigeria’s economic mainstay, where risks are higher and the consequences of neglect can be devastating.

Highlighting enforcement challenges in the sector, Faleye identified non-compliance and evasion, outsourcing and casualisation of workers, low awareness, weak sanctions, and poor safety culture as major obstacles.

To address these issues, he said the Fund has undertaken several reforms, including periodic inspection of employers’ records, digitalization of registration and remittance processes, simplification of claims and compensation procedures, aggressive stakeholder engagement, inter-agency collaboration, and enhanced workplace safety and health measures.

Going forward, Faleye called for a review of the ECA enforcement provisions to raise penalties for defaulters. He further recommended that compliance with the Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS) be made a precondition for licensing or renewal, alongside the establishment of a unified labour data system for effective monitoring.

He also urged the empowerment of labour inspectors through training and resources to access even remote installations, as well as naming and shaming defaulting employers.

The Employees’ Compensation Act (ECA) 2010 established the Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS) and mandated the NSITF to provide fair and adequate compensation, rehabilitation, and reorientation for workers or their dependents who suffer injuries, diseases, disabilities, or death in the course of employment. Employers are required to contribute one percent of their employees’ salaries to fund the scheme.