The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has urged organised labour to explore the social security opportunities in the Employees Compensation Act for the benefit of workers.
Ngige spoke in Abuja on Thursday when he declared open a two-day retreat for top management staff of agencies under the ministry.
The retreat is on “Improving Service Delivery in Agencies of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment’’.
The law is a social security and welfare scheme that provides comprehensive compensation for workers.
‘’We ask you to go a step further. The Employees Compensation Act being implemented by Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NISTF) today is for the benefit of workers and also for their employers.
“It protects workers from accidents, death and disabilities in the course of work. It makes provision for their families to be protected financially too,’’ Ngige said.
He added that under the law, ‘’the dependents in the family can be trained up to university level while the widow or widower is given something for sustenance.
“It is a social protection that must be exploited by labour, NISTF being a tripartite organisation where labour and employers under the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association have representatives on the board. ”
Ngige said active participation of labour was required to ensure the fund was not mismanaged.
He said the retreat was important to enhance the capabilities of the management team of the ministry and its parastatal agencies for effective goal delivery
The minister said the productivity of any organisation depended on the top management.
The President of Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC), Mr Ayuba Wabba, said the union would partner the Inspectorate Department of the ministry to ensure the sustenance of minimum standards for factory workers.
Wabba decried the lack of factory inspectorate officers for effective service delivery to address alleged maltreatment of workers in some private organisations.
He called for the revival of the department to ensure that it was able to carry out factory inspection.
The NLC president commended the ministry for organising the retreat and urged the management staff to use the opportunity to gain knowledge and ensure implementation of policies.
The Country Director, International Labour Organisation (ILO), Mr Dennis Zulu, said the retreat was timely due to emerging challenges in the world.
Zulu, represented by Dr Rino Onosede, ILO Technical Expert, said that it was imperative for strategic actions to be taken by managements to ensure good service delivery.
Mr Kahism Akor, Director General of National Productivity Centre (NPC), commended the ministry for the passion and drive to ensure improved service delivery in the country.
Akor noted that one of NPC’s goals was to embark on aggressive capacity building of staff for effective and efficient service delivery which had already commenced. (NAN)
JAN/JIE/JCE