Workplace Safety: NSITF advocates for safety culture

Managing Director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Barrister. Oluwaseun Faleye, has called for a nationwide shift from mere workplace safety compliance to the entrenchment of a sustainable safety culture across Nigerian industries.

The NSITF boss made the call in Abuja on Tuesday at the NSITF–NECA Safe Workplace Intervention Project (SWIP) Abuja Mega Awards Ceremony, marking the grand finale of the 2025 SWIP programme.

Faleye said the Abuja event represented the “homecoming of safety” after a 12-day nationwide SWIP journey that began at the NSITF headquarters and passed through key industrial centres including Lagos and Enugu.

According to him, the initiative symbolises Nigeria’s transition from reacting to workplace accidents to proactively preventing them, while recognising organisations that have prioritised worker protection as a core business value.

“A safe workplace is an efficient workplace, and a protected worker is a productive worker,” Faleye said, describing SWIP as a strategic partnership between the NSITF as regulator and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) as operator.

To this end, he highlighted a policy shift within the agency from what he described as “reactive compensation” to “proactive prevention,” stressing that preventing accidents is far more beneficial than paying compensation after harm has occurred. He emphasised that training, information, and consistent safety awareness are key to transforming safety from a checklist into a habit embedded in organisational culture.

Congratulating recipients of the Abuja Mega Awards, Faleye charged them to see the recognition not as an endpoint but as a responsibility to serve as safety ambassadors within their sectors.

In her remarks, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to protecting Nigerian workers, declaring that workplace safety is a legal obligation and not an option for employers.

Onyejeocha highlighted the economic importance of the North, pointing to high-risk sectors such as mining, construction, manufacturing and agro-processing, and stressed that safety in these workplaces must be treated as a responsibility rather than a choice.

While acknowledging the Employees’ Compensation Act of 2010 as a strong framework for supporting injured workers, the minister emphasised that compensation alone was insufficient.

According to her, the government’s priority is prevention, insisting that workers should not have to suffer injury or death before action is taken. She described SWIP as a practical platform that brings employers, regulators and workers together to identify risks, build capacity and prevent accidents.

The Minister issued a stern warning to employers who disregard occupational safety laws, saying the government would no longer tolerate practices that endanger lives in the name of productivity. She warned that violators would face sanctions and prosecution, including for manslaughter where negligence leads to death, while commending organisations recognised at the event for proving that strong labour standards and profitable businesses can coexist.

32 organisations received various categories of awards at the event for imbibing healthy safety practices in their workplaces.

The awards ranged from plaques to safety gear and ambulances.