Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has challenged the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to lead a legal overhaul that will extend workplace protection and social security to Nigeria’s growing population of informal, gig and platform workers.

The Managing-Director and Chief Executive of NSITF, Mr. Oluwaseun Faleye, made the call at the 66th Annual General Conference of the NBA in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, arguing that Nigeria’s labour laws must catch up with the changing nature of work.

Faleye, who was represented at the conference by the General Manager, Abuja Region of the Fund, Mrs Bridget Ashang, spoke on the theme, “Beyond Limits: Expanding the Legal Frontiers of Workplace Protection and Social Security Beyond Limits in Nigeria.”

He said social security, as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), is fundamental to human dignity and resilience, providing access to healthcare and income security in situations including old age, unemployment, sickness, workplace injury, maternity and loss of a breadwinner.

“Social security is not charity. It is social justice,” Faleye said, stressing that the Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS) exists to ensure that “in Nigeria, no worker falls alone.”

The ECS, administered by NSITF under the Employees’ Compensation Act 2010, provides employment injury benefits to workers in the public and private sectors, with officers of the Armed Forces excluded. 

Contributions to the scheme are borne entirely by employers, while deductions from employees are prohibited.

Faleye said the scheme protects workers recovering from employment-related injuries while reducing employers’ liabilities, supporting income continuity, sustaining productivity and promoting safer workplaces.

But he said a major gap remains in Nigeria’s social security system because existing laws are still largely built around formal employment, despite the rapid growth of informal work and digital platforms.

He therefore urged the NBA to use its legal influence to help expand the definitions of “employee,” “employer” and “workplace” to reflect the realities of today’s labour market.

Among the measures he proposed were stronger legal awareness, advocacy and advisory roles for lawyers, corporate audits and test-case litigation to expand workplace protection, as well as amendments to existing labour laws to accommodate informal, gig and platform workers.

He also called for greater attention to platform liability, ratification and domestication of relevant ILO conventions, and deliberate inclusion of emerging categories of workers in laws establishing public institutions.

Faleye further challenged law firms and the NBA to lead by example through self-audits and compliance, arguing that lawyers should demonstrate the standards they seek to establish for the wider society.

“Legal frontiers should be expanded from protecting only ‘formal sector’ to ‘ALL’,” he said, adding that “when a lawyer speaks, everyone usually listens.”

For the NSITF boss, the issue goes beyond compensation for workplace injuries. 

He said extending social security to more workers was also about recognising the dignity of labour and ensuring that workers are not left without support when illness, injury, unemployment or other life-changing circumstances strike.

“Social security is how we honour that sweat. It is how we say: Your work has dignity and your life has value,” he said.

He warned that failure to close the legal gaps would continue to facilitate exclusion, urging the NBA to deploy the law as an instrument of social change.

“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,” Faleye said.

The call comes as thousands of lawyers gather in Port Harcourt for the week-long NBA Annual General Conference, where labour reforms and wider legal issues are expected to feature prominently.

NSITF said the push aligns with its vision of becoming Africa’s leading social security institution while driving social policy, economic empowerment and poverty alleviation in Nigeria.