Oluwaseun Faleye, the managing director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, has urged staff to prioritise customer satisfaction, empathy and excellent service delivery to strengthen public trust.

Mr Faleye gave the advice on Tuesday while declaring the 2026 Customer Service Week open in Abuja.

“As the theme says, we go the extra mile. I urge you this week, this month, and of course going forward to go the extra mile for not only ourselves internally as we collaborate to make our service to our customers out there,” he said.

Mr Faleye said sustained excellent service delivery would improve public perception of the NSITF while giving staff personal satisfaction from serving Nigerians effectively.

“Going the extra mile will give us the extra edge. The extra edge in terms of how people perceive us, how people experience NSITF and of course the extra edge in terms of personal satisfaction knowing that you are doing your best for people,” he said.

Mr Faleye described the NSITF’s mandate as sensitive, stressing that staff must show empathy and understanding when attending to injured workers, employers and dependants.

“You know, the sort of service that we deliver is very important and sometimes quite paternal in nature. And it means that we must show empathy, we must show sensitivity and understanding when we deal with people,” he said.

He urged staff to sustain the momentum beyond the celebration, noting that consistent improvements in customer service were essential to strengthening the Fund’s performance and public confidence. According to him, internal collaboration means effective service delivery requires cooperation among departments to ensure satisfactory services for customers.

“I don’t want you to see this customer service as an external-facing matter. Inspection and audit, compliance, claims departments, we are all customers to each other in providing service to the ultimate customer out there,” he said.

Mr Faleye added that how staff treated colleagues from other departments could influence the quality of service ultimately delivered to external customers. The managing director noted staff efforts under challenging circumstances and assured them that management would continue providing the necessary tools to improve efficiency and service delivery.

Mr Faleye expressed satisfaction with the reported improvement in public perception of the NSITF over the past two years, and said sustained commitment would produce better results.

(NAN)