The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has called on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to champion legal reforms that will extend workplace protection and social security coverage to informal and gig economy workers.
The NSITF Managing Director, Oluwaseun Faleye, made the call at the 66th Annual General Conference of the NBA in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
In a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by Alexandra Mede, Head of the Fund’s Corporate Affairs Division, Faleye said Nigeria’s existing social security framework largely favoured workers in the formal sector despite changing labour realities.
Faleye, represented by Bridget Ashang, General Manager, Abuja Region of NSITF, spoke on the theme, “Beyond Limits: Expanding the Legal Frontiers of Workplace Protection and Social Security in Nigeria.”
He described social security as a foundation for human dignity and resilience, providing protection against healthcare challenges, unemployment, old age, injury, sickness and loss of income.
“Social security is not charity. It is social justice. The Employees’ Compensation Scheme exists to ensure that in Nigeria, no worker falls alone,” he said.
The NSITF administers the Employees’ Compensation Scheme under the Employees’ Compensation Act, 2010, providing compensation for work-related injuries to employees in the public and private sectors.
Faleye said the scheme helps reduce employer liability, support workers’ recovery, ensure income continuity and promote productivity through improved occupational safety standards.
However, he said the country needed to broaden its legal framework to accommodate workers operating outside traditional employment structures.
He noted that the International Labour Organisation’s Social Security Convention No. 102 recognises nine branches of social protection, but Nigeria’s framework remained largely focused on formal sector workers.
Faleye urged the NBA to support reforms that would redefine the concepts of employee, employer and workplace to reflect the emergence of informal, gig and platform-based work.
“The legal frontiers should be expanded from protecting only the formal sector to protecting all workers,” he said.
Gig workers are independent contractors or freelancers who perform short-term, flexible or project-based tasks, often connecting with clients through digital platforms.
Faleye urged lawyers to promote public awareness, advocate policy changes, support test-case litigation and encourage the ratification of relevant ILO conventions on social protection.
He also called for stronger enforcement mechanisms to ensure that legal reforms translate into actual protection for workers.
“When a lawyer speaks, everyone usually listens. The law remains a powerful instrument for social change,” he said.
According to him, extending social protection to all categories of workers would help recognise the dignity of labour and protect people who contribute to national development.
“Without the law, the Fund is silent. Without the Fund, the law is empty. Together, we can write a new social contract for Nigerian workers,” he said.
Faleye warned that failure to expand legal protection could deepen exclusion and undermine efforts to build a fair and inclusive labour ecosystem.
He said the NSITF’s vision was to become Africa’s leading social security institution by driving social policy, economic empowerment and poverty reduction.
