Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund says the federal government is committed to improving social security, health and safety of Nigerian workers at workplaces.

Oluwaseun Faleye, NSITF managing director, said this at the ongoing 113th session of the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

He said that the fund was currently embarking on occupational health and safety audits at workplaces to ensure the safety of workers in line with the International Labour Organisation convention.

“That’s why we collaborate with employers to make workplaces safe and further deepen all of the issues regarding health and safety in the workplace.

“That is why we are at the forefront of undertaking occupational safety and health (OSH) audits in relevant organisations and creating the awareness.

“Of course, the way it works for us here when we come to a platform like this is to further broaden our knowledge and our capacity in bringing cutting-edge standards relating to health, safety and environment (HSE). So that we can take it back home and further engage within that ecosystem,” he said.

He added that the NSITF had been making efforts to ensure that the workplace is conducive and workers who suffer injury at work can also get a reprieve on time.

He explained that decent work was within the mandate of NSITF and related to its responsibilities under the HSE.

“So for us, promoting decent work is really doing more within that core mandate of HSE and that, of course, takes us to the other issue of employees’ compensation itself when there are injuries. The synergy between a decent and safe working environment also impacts employee injury and the threshold about that.

“So, when we improve HSE components within workplaces, you see that injuries and all of that come down relatively. We’re also very open and responsible to our mandate regarding prompt payment of compensation, and we’ll continue to do that,” he statee.

Mr Faleye said that the fund was making efforts at integrating the informal sector under the scheme, as enormous opportunities abound there, noting that the responses from the sector have been great.

Mr Faleye said that the ILO conference has been a great platform to share ideas, deepen capacity, and enhance further collaboration with the ILO.

(NAN)