Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Mr Oluwaseun Faleye
Retirement planning cannot be separated from what happens to workers during their active years, Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Mr Oluwaseun Faleye, has said.
Faleye said workers could save and plan for retirement, but their long-term security could still be undermined if they were left without adequate protection against workplace injuries, occupational diseases, disability or the loss of a family breadwinner.
He made the submission on Thursday while representing NSITF at a Policy Dialogue session of the 2026 National Pre-Retirement Summit, held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.
The session, titled “Between Duty and Delivery”, examined the gap between the social protection provided for by law and what workers actually experience when they need assistance.
Faleye said retirement security was shaped long before a worker left employment.
“When we speak about retirement, we must begin much earlier than the point at which work ends. Retirement security is shaped during working life – by occupational risks, health, protection of earning capacity, compensation when harm occurs, and what happens to families when a breadwinner is lost,” he said.
He said pensions and personal savings remained important, but could not on their own provide complete protection for workers.
According to him, a worker who remains healthy, productive and protected throughout his career faces a different path into retirement from one whose earning capacity is destroyed by an occupational injury or who dies prematurely without adequate protection for the family.
Faleye said the Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS), administered by NSITF, was designed to provide that layer of protection by supporting workers affected by employment-related injuries, occupational diseases, disability and death.
The scheme, he said, also provides compensation, medical care, rehabilitation, return-to-work support and benefits for survivors and dependants.
On coverage, Faleye disclosed that more than 7.8 million workers are now enrolled under the scheme, up from over 7.6 million recorded in July 2026.
He said NSITF was moving beyond registration campaigns to ensuring that workers actually received the protection attached to their enrolment.
“Registration alone is not protection,” Faleye said, stressing the need to link registration and assessment with contributions, accurate worker records, claims processing and timely payment of benefits.
He said the integration of Treasury-funded Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) into the scheme was already producing results, with claims payments beginning less than four months after the process started.
Faleye disclosed that the first batch of five beneficiaries from Treasury-funded MDAs was paid on August 4, 2026.
He said the development showed how workplace protection could move from a statutory requirement to something workers and their families could actually experience.
The NSITF chief also drew attention to families who depend on workers’ incomes, particularly where an employment-related incident results in death.
He said social protection should be designed around the needs of beneficiaries at the point when they are most vulnerable, rather than leaving them to navigate complicated claims and referrals on their own.
“The system must be visible at the point of vulnerability. Claims administration, documentation, communication and inter-agency referrals should be designed around the beneficiary’s experience, with compassion, clarity and timely resolution,” he said.
Faleye said preventing workplace accidents was equally important, noting that NSITF’s occupational safety and health activities include workplace inspections, accident investigations and safety advocacy.
He said the objective was not only to compensate workers after accidents but also to reduce the number of workers who suffer injuries in the first place.
He urged workers to take responsibility for understanding their retirement rights and planning for the future, but said that responsibility could not be used to shift institutional obligations onto individuals.
“A worker cannot individually insure against an employer’s non-compliance or build a claims system,” he said.
Faleye said effective social protection required all sides to play their part, with government providing and regulating the framework, institutions delivering on their mandates, employers complying with their obligations and maintaining safe workplaces, and workers making use of the protections available to them.
He said NSITF’s position was built around five priorities: starting retirement security during working life, making coverage translate into actual protection, combining prevention with compensation, keeping families and dependants within the protection system, and ensuring individual responsibility complements rather than replaces institutional responsibility.
“Between duty and delivery is where trust is won. For the Nigerian worker, social protection must be more than a statutory promise on paper. It must be felt when a worker is injured, when a family loses a breadwinner, when rehabilitation is needed, and when a worker approaches retirement,” Faleye said.
He further disclosed that the average time for processing claims had dropped from 14 days to 10 days, saying NSITF would now focus on expanding coverage, improving compliance and strengthening coordination with other institutions.
“A worker can plan for retirement only when the system is credible enough to plan with,” he said.
The summit was attended by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chairman of the National Pension Commission, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Director-General of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms and Director-General of the National Senior Citizens Centre, among other stakeholders.
