Business, Featured, Interview
AT the close of the two-day retreat hosted by the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF for the members of the National Assembly in Lagos in August, the managing director of the NSITF, Oluwaseun Faleye, graciously granted an exclusive interview to the Realnews team led by the Editor/publisher of Realnews, Maureen Chigbo. In the brief chat, Faleye promised to revolutionize the Fund and take it to a place where it can interface with the public, using technology, digitalizing NSITF from top to bottom, while also aiming to bring more Nigerians into the social safety net.
The interview with Faleye, a lawyer with rich and varied experience in both the private sector and the civil service is quite revealing, captivating and a must read.
Excerpts:
Realnews: Thank you so much sir for granting us audience. It’s been wonderful two days of hosting the National Assembly members and you’ve just been in office for one month. How has it been?
Faleye: Well it’s been a learning process. We’ve been listening internally and of course also taking feedback externally and when we match what we’re hearing internally and the feedback we’re getting externally we then use that with our own expectations of ourselves to build a vision for the organisation and that’s what has led to the last few days and some of the ideas that we shared in the last few days, that’s what has led to it. So it’s been interesting. You know that public service is something, somewhat different from the private sector, luckily I have been privileged to work in the public sector in the past, so it has giving me the background to hit the ground running so to speak, and the support of the team internally. The members of staff I met have been invaluable in getting me up to speed in what they have been up to. So it has been a learning one month, but we’re enjoying it.
Realnews: Yes, I can see you are enjoying it, given what you have just achieved in two days, having to bring the members of the National Assembly, the Senate and the House of Representatives, and they have attested to what you have achieved. How are you going to meet the expectations because from your presentation, the targets you have set for yourself, how are you going to meet these expectations because everybody is expecting so much even the kind of praises and commendations you have been given at this two-day event, how are you going to meet those expectations and the targets?
Faleye: I think it is through hard work, through leadership. I am not the only person that will do the work in NSETF. I think my responsibility is to set the agenda and be at the forefront of driving that agenda. I rely extensively on my colleagues at the executive management team to drive their respective directorates to implement the agenda that we broadly agree together.And of course, we then provide leadership to the various departments and units and key to that like I said is the commitment to the vision and once you are committed to it then you are able to show or lead the team towards realizing it. And I am glad that the members of the National Assembly have given us their support and that will go a long way in achieving this. You heard from our conversations yesterday and today on the need for legislative support to drive some of the initiatives. You have heard some of the collaborative ideas that we need to foster increased compliance at the ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government, at the state level and at the local government level and you also heard here where one of the representative was offering to take us to his constituency; a very industrious constituency in Nnewi and all of those environs. And haven heard the benefits of ECA, he is willing to take us there to engage with the community for them to enjoy the benefits of the ECA. So all of those collaborating nuances will really help us achieve the agenda that we have set for ourselves. Of course part of that is also building a capable team from what we have. Building a capable team to drive the agenda, supporting them with necessary tools that will enable them deliver.
So, if we carry all of these things along from partnerships and collaboration to skills and capacity development to using technology to really reach the sort of divide that we have, I think that we will go a long way in meeting the target that we have set for ourselves.
Realnews: One of the major issues that were raised here is the mistaken identity that NSITF is a revenue generating agency. How are you going to tackle this issue and make sure that every arm of the government views the agency correctly?
Faleye: It is through engagements, I think we have made the point that we are not a revenue generating agency. We are a custodian of fund for the payment of compensation and claims arising from work-related injuries and all of those funds that we collect, we hold in trust for that purpose.
So any attempts to really take out of it for whatever purposes will be detrimental to the sustainability of the firm and I think we have made the points with the Ministry of Finance. They understand that and I believe that they are in the process of implementing that reversal. Of course we will be calling on the National Assembly to also remove us from the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which I think was what sort of instigated the withdrawal in the first place, but by and large, I am happy with the commitment that we have received from the National Assembly that they will see that we are recognized as a non-income generating agency in the respect that Ministry of Finance think we are.
Realnews: How difficult has it been operating because of the deduction, has it affected any compensation?
Faleye: No. No. It has not. But we’re making the case so that it shouldn’t.
You know, for us, we take all the resources that are entrusted in our care very seriously so even if it is N10 or N100 million, we will pursue it with the same vigor. AS we speak, it has not impacted our ability to pay compensation, but if it is done on a consistent and continuous basis, it probably will at the end of the day and it is the reason why we are trying to nip it in the bud at the moment. But I am hopeful that it will be resolved soonest. I have gotten assurances from the relevant people in the ministry that they would facilitate the reverse and I am confident that it will be done.
Realnews: Another key issue is publicity. Most people say they don’t know about NSITF, so can you speak to this and let us know the complete actions to be taken henceforth to ensure that NSITF is the buzzword for the next coming months?
Faleye: I think that is a challenge for us, and that is a challenge that we are happy to engage with. Certainly, the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund should have much more awareness than it does because of the impact that it has on the lives of people in case of an emergency. And that is what life is about; the ability to have the back-up that indeed, if anything should happen to me as I leave home in the morning to go to work, or as I am in my work, depending on the nature of work that I do, that if anything happens to me, I can have some form of social insurance that either takes care of me for my loss of wages or if I am unable to work, they pay me something that I use as compensation, or if I die, (God forbid) that my wife and my children can survive. We are committed based on our framework to support all of these issues by cash, non-cash basis, cash in the case of death, sickness and all of that, non-cash in the case of disability where we can help you and still even give you funding to support your existence.
All of these are in my view very, very important safety net to have in a society that thinks and takes its people and their work seriously.
You know, it gives them the confidence to leave home in the morning and say, I’m going out there to work for myself and work for my country
So, what we need to do, of course, is to propagate that more, and I will be the first to say that we have not done enough in the case of awareness. And our strategy going forward is to ensure that in every nook and cranny of this country, people are aware, in different languages, in different formats, either from your Facebook to your Twitter to your radio to NTA, to everywhere, because the responsibility is on us to let people know what we do, and then we will then move to compliance; where we then demand that you comply with the law, because we are not begging people, it is a mandate that is given by law, and it is not just given by law for giving sake. It is given because at the end of the day, it affects the productivity of the nation and contributes to it, it breeds societal cohesion.
If you go to England, if you go to any sane word, they have all of these platforms. So, we have it, it is just not operationalizing it in a way that functions for us that is important.
So, we will do more of those communication outreach, and hopefully you will also take it on board, to be part of our spokespeople, your organization, your colleagues, and all of that to decimate the information at the right fora, and at the right time. We will need to engage on that basis.
Realnews: Yeah, we will.
Finally, there’s something else… You had expectations when you were appointed to go to NSITF to lead the organisation. Can you give us an overview of what you found on ground which necessitated all the actions which you have taken so far, to move at such a fast pace to coordinate things and get things working properly?
Faleye: I think for any responsibility that you are given, particularly responsibility in public service, there is always urgency of action, because people are waiting, people require decisions and actions to be taken that will impact their lives. And when you are given a responsibility that impacts the lives of people, there is no time. And of course, when I got into the system and interacted with the staff, I realized all of these issues about digitalization to enhance operations, be able to really reach people more efficiently and effectively. So that is at the forefront of what we do. And in order to do that, we had to look at the working environment of our workers, what is their ability to deliver the services that we are looking for, so we are looking at that.
We also spoke about the need for advocacy, so that we can increase the compliance level. If we do all of these and still do not increase the compliance level, it will come to nothing.
So that’s why advocacy is important.
So for me, what is driving my convictions is the urgency to act, because there are a whole lot of people out there that require this sort of net and given that we are mandated to provide it, then we will do our best to provide it in an excellent manner and in a comprehensive manner.
Realnews: So what did you find on ground in this one month that it has taken you to study the organization?
Faleye: Like I said, I found resilient staff, resilient organization, given its history, given its challenges, and I found that there is a need for technology, I found that there is a need for capacity building and collaboration, I found that there are enormous opportunities out there in terms of expanding the tax net from the local government level to the state government, to the federal government, to the private sector, to the different industries that require the service that we render. Imagine the construction industry, imagine the manufacturing industry, look at the agricultural sector, all of these sectors, need some sort of social safety net that I know that we can provide.
People have talked about the informal sector for instance, we are talking about the Okada riders, we are talking about the artisans, and all of these people because of the nature of their work are exposed to hazard, they are exposed to some level of occupation hazard and we must find some level of social insurance for them. And that is why the agency needs to move as quickly as possible.
So the potentials are there, the opportunities are there, there is enormous works to be done, but we are up to the task and we will surmount those issues.
Realnews: Is there any relationship between what you intend to do with improving the economy?
Faleye: Of course, like I said, all of these efforts; social insurance, that is related to work that supports some form of activities around work, ultimately impacts on productivity. And I will break it down for you – So if as an employer with10 staff and I am paying them NSITF and one of them falls sick, I know for a fact that I don’t have to take resources out of my working capital or anything, to give them loss of income or to replace anything in case of injury; NSITF will do that.
That in itself saves you money from working capital and also allows people to get off work and come back to work, it allows some other people to come back to that space and engenders productivity.
So there is no break in productivity and ultimately all this add to a continuous and consistent productivity workforce, which counts down the line. So that stream of productivity that is unbroken that keeps the economy running is there, and then when you look at the workforce, the most important element that is soft and unseen in a working circle is the motivation and the need of the workforce that they are well catered for, that in case of anything, there’s a social insurance platform at the back that will give them support.
Now what that does is that it encourages them to put in their best at work knowing that whatever happens, my insurer or my NSITF or my employer has got my back. And they can then go in there and do their work without any issues. And that’s productivity right there.
And what we need in Nigeria right now is sustainable productivity at different levels from top to bottom, from your informal sector to your formal sector to your artisan, we need people that are consistently productive at whatever level. And our own part is to say, okay, go on being productive, if anything happen while you’re being productive, your family is covered, you are covered. And then as I say, I have got your back.
Realnews: Okay, well said, well spoken. But what will be the most important thing that you want to achieve while in office?
Faleye: Two things. To revolutionize NSITF and take it to a place where it can interface with a public, using technology, digitalizing NSITF from top to bottom.
Secondly, to increase in a dramatic way the normal people covered under the employee compensation scheme. Because it then gives me the confidence that we have done our job, we have reached out to a whole number of people and we brought them into a social safety net just like the President has promised. That will give me great satisfaction indeed.
Realnews: What is your target?
Faleye: My target is to get every Nigerian worker under the employee compensation scheme.
Realnews: What in your previous experience prepared you for the role you are taking on now?
Faleye: I think all of my experiences have relatedly brought me to where I am. You know by training that I’m a lawyer; I worked in the bank as a lawyer, I have worked in the normal practice as a commercial lawyer, I’ve have had the privilege to work in the public service; I have worked with the state government ecosystem that is vibrant and full of energy and ideas, so I have been exposed to public service at the highest level in the sub-national government that is perhaps the biggest and the most thriving sub-national government in Africa. So that has given me the background and the experience to take on this role.
So, in all of my experience really, I have been mentored by very successful public servants and public service oriented people.
All of those have given me the capability to take on this challenge and I’m really grateful for that for those experiences and the exposure and the impact.
Realnews: Okay, this is your professional life, playing on what you are doing right now. Is there anything about your family life, your family or mother that is bringing to bear on what you are doing right now?
Faleye: Well, beyond their training, they have given me the ability for community service. I think that has always been part of my family background; to undertake community service for the betterment of our community.
For my family, my nuclear and standard family, we have always been known for that. I think that has also prepared me for a role like this where we are undertaking in various capacities our own contributions to the community. And of course, the support of my wife and my extended family, basically pushing me on.
But all in all, I will say that various people have contributed in lots of ways in getting me to where I am and I appreciate and thank them for that.
Realnews: And who are those people, can you mention two of them?
Faleye: I mean, they are too numerous to mention, but of course, I will want to thank the President for being a mentor and a father.
His Excellency Babatunde Raji Fashola was in fact my teacher, my mentor, my boss and a lot of my public service experience was from him. In different ways, he taught us this act of public service; the selflessness of it and I’m grateful for that experience, the learning and training.
Realnews: Who had the most impact on your life, your mother or your father?
Faleye: Both of them, two years. Because they’ve got different personalities, different outlooks. And I think my mother is very selfless, very accommodating, while my father was a community oriented leader. And I think that from him, I also learnt the art of selflessness in community service. So, truly, both of them contributed in a lot of ways to the person I have become.
Realnews: Okay, thank you.
Do you have any hobbies?
Faleye: Yes. I play golf, I play football sometimes, most times, but lately I play a lot of golf. That helps with relaxation and it is also an opportunity to meet with my friends, banter, play and joke. And that helps a lot.
Realnews: So, what do you want to be remembered for?
Faleye: Well, I will like to be remembered as somebody who has been given a responsibility and has tackled and has undertaken that responsibility with the utmost passion and dedication and has delivered a tangible result at the end of the day.
Realnews: Thank you so much. You’re going to be remembered well.
Faleye: Thank you.
A.I
Oct. 20, 2024
Tags: NSITF Oluwaseun Faleye
