Abuja-The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has urged public servants and their dependants to take advantage of the Employees Compensation Scheme under the Employees Compensation Act (ECA) 2010 to claim their rights and privileges for work related injuries, diseases, disabilities and deaths.
NOA Director General, Dr. Garba Abari stated this at a one-day enlightenment programme on the ECA organized by the Agency for public servants.
Represented by the Director of Procurement, Mrs. Remi Afolabi, Abari said the enlightenment became necessary to bridge observed knowledge gap in the public sector about the provisions of the Act and its welfare implications for the public sector worker.
The Director of Legal Service in NOA, Hajia Amina Elelu-Ahmed who coordinated the planning and implementation of the programme, noted that NOA and the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) were working toward a formal partnership to leverage the spread and competences of NOA to raise public awareness on the provisions of the ECA.
In his presentation, the General Manager, Investment and Treasury Management of NSITF, Mr. Stephen Bathana, said under the ECA, workers across all sectors are entitled to 70 per cent of their monthly salaries in addition to full medical expenses as compensation in the event of injury or disability resulting from work related hazards.
Where such hazards result in death, Bathana said dependants of the victim are entitled to 90 per cent of his/her salary and scholarship for such dependants under 21 as at the time of demise up until they attain the age of 21.
He observed that since 2011, the Fund had paid over N1.2bn in compensations to victims and their dependants, adding that increased payments are anticipated, going forward, given a prospective partnership between NOA and NSITF which is projected to improve public claims from the fund.
