Amid criticism of employment deficit in Nigeria, the Federal Government has instructed that a portal be opened to document unemployed citizens.
The resolution was reached on Wednesday at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, shortly before he proceeded to Rwanda to attend the 2022 CHOGM. The job portal would also take Nigerians living in the diaspora into cognisance.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, also noted that council approved the digitisation of the operations of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF).
According to him, “The ministry presented two memos to council today. The first memo was presented on behalf of our parastatal, the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF).
“As you’re aware, a lot has happened in the NSITF in terms of revenue losses and pillage of funds that have been given to that organisation.
“The NSITF implements the Employee Compensation Act ECA 2010 and by that Act, employers in both public and private sectors are supposed to pay one percent of the emoluments of their staff into a social fund in NSITF.
“And this one is to be used as a premium or insurance fund to cater for workers or staff members who have accidents, injuries, disabilities and even deaths that occur in the cause of their work.
So it’s like an accident or injury insurance. “The Pension Act makes reference to it that it must be done for workers in addition to the group life.
So, the monies that have gone in there have not been properly utilized, the payments have not been tracked.
“So today we brought to council a memo for an e-NSITF by which their operations will now be digitalised.
Both the payments that are put in from any of their stations, they have 56 branches and 11 regional offices.
So in the comfort of your office, you can pay and register in that platform and that money is now tracked into central pool.
“From the central pool if claims are made and payments are also made to the insurance on those who are beneficiaries, you also track them.
“So this is one of the things the government has done in the spirit of digitalisation of the economy and ease of doing business for everybody.
“So this will make for efficiency and help the organisation to grow in leaps and bounds.
Already, the organisation is revitalised following the present restructuring agreement for them. “Today, NSITF can pay all their salaries, they can boast of even doing capital projects.
And this digitisation of funds operation is part of the capital project that they are doing and like I said earlier, the accountability that is there will make for non-leakages of funds.
“We also know that previously, they have been complaints of claims not being paid but with e-NSITF it will track claims and allow people to know who and who benefits from those claims. So this is one of the memos presented today.
“A consultant is going to handle it and council approved that the digitalisation should be completed in eight weeks.” The minister said that the e-NSITF will cost N1.2 billion.
He disclosed that council approved a portal called Nigerian Labour Exchange (NILEX) which will be domiciled in his ministry for employment and job creation.
According to him, “The second approval has to do with employment and job creation. It is a portal called Nigerian Labour Exchange (NILEX), housed in my ministry.”
He explained that the platform had not been developed over time and could not take stress of the number of people wanting to go into it, stressing that the digital platform was supposed to be used by employers on one hand and job seekers on the other.
