SAN FRANCISCO, May 06, (THEWILL) – It took uncommon zeal, doggedness and foresight on the part of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) led by Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Olejeme to turn around the Fund which had almost gone bankrupt, investigations have revealed.
A team player, Dr Olejeme rallied the support of all the board members, the management team and the entire staff to set the NSITF on the right course.
Prior to her appointment as the Chairman of the Board of Directors in June 2009 by the late president, Umaru Yar’Adua, the NSITF was on its kneel.
The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) was established by Act No. 73 of 1993. It replaced the defunct National Provident Fund. It has the mandate to provide Social Insurance Scheme for employees in the Organized Private Sector. However, the enactment of the Pension Reform Act 2004 put the NSITF in a tight corner.
If not for the leadership provided by Olejeme, the institution would have been long forgotten.
An NSITF’s staff, who does not want her name on record told THEWILL that he could not understand why Madam (as she is fondly addressed at NSITF) was being vilified.
He said: “Here is a woman who gave life to a dead organization that is today providing employment to hundreds of Nigerians and paying injury claims promptly to workers under the Employees Compensation Scheme, ECS, of the Fund. Like an amazon she fought from all fronts to reposition the agency in the mind of government, stakeholders and the people.”
According to him, Olejeme lobbied the National Assembly to pass into law, the Employees Compensation Act, ECA, 2010 that gave life back to the Fund. He also pressurized the President to sign it into law. The law as it is today, stands as one of the outstanding achievements of the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Prior to her appointment as board chairman, NSITF had become moribund and was owing its less than 200 staff in backlog of salaries.
Apparently, one of the best appointments made by Jonathan, Olejeme changed the tide by first, ensuring that workers were paid as at when due. Secondly, she put an end to exodus of staff who then were leaving NSITF for better jobs elsewhere. Thirdly, she restructured the organization and turned into an employment generating institution. As at press time, about 6,000 workers are in the pay roll of the Fund.
A workaholic, who would not stop at half course, Dr Olejeme never stops to work hard to improve the lots of the NSITF to make it a globally competitive institution.
Under her watch, NSITF received the coveted ISO 270001 2013 certification of the British Standard Institute, BSI.
The certification makes NSITF one of the few government and public organizations to be so certified in Africa. Only the Central Bank of Nigeria is so certified in the country.
With the BSI certification data and information offered by NSITF now ranks equal to other world class organizations in terms of Confidentiality, Dependability and Availability.
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