By Saidu Idris
365Daily– The new Managing Director/Chief Executive of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Dr. Michael Akabogu, has pledged to run the Fund with a transparent management team devoid of favouritism and segregation of any sort.
He made the pledge during the official handing over by the outgoing acting Managing Director /Chief Executive, Dr. Kelly Nwagha, at the Board Room of NSITF headquarters in Abuja.
The new helmsman of the Fund called on its staff to refocus on their relationship with each other while assuring them that further appointments and responsibilities would be merit-based.
He thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, for the trust reposed in him and the new Management team.
“I am humbled by this privilege but more importantly, this appointment is coming at a time when the Fund is undergoing various levels of restructuring based on various past challenges,” Akabogu said.
He advised members of the staff to exhibit strength of character, hard work and probity by every word, noting that “we must consider ourselves blessed to have an opportunity to serve our dear country, Nigeria.”
The new NSITF boss declared that his management team would focus on fulfilling the core mandate and “restore confidence in our processes and dignity of the Fund.
“We would aim to achieve the following: a. Create pathways to reward excellent and outstanding service while maintaining upmost commitment to staff welfare.
b. Reposition the public perception of the Fund
c. Increase the productivity of every Department of the Fund and use quantifiable metrics to measure our performance in the weeks and months ahead.
d. Improve on and ensure prompt payments of Claims and Compensations to give value for money to all the Contributors in our ECA Scheme.
e. Widen the spread of our enrolee
f. Create more visibility for the Fund through improved public engagement and public enlightenment activities; and
g. Create a conducive atmosphere in the organisation and make the Fund a great place to work.
“These would indeed be the key objectives amongst many others upon which the New Management would be evaluated at the close of our tenure.”
In his handing over remarks, the erstwhile acting Managing Director/CE, Dr. Nwagha, promised to support the new management to succeed, and asked for all hands to be on deck for the success of the Fund.
He equally thanked the President and the Minister of Labour and Employment for giving him and his team the opportunity to manage the organisation for 11 months.
Nwagha listed the achievements of his management team within the period as improvement of staff welfare, probity of funds, change of the narrative to service provision, more media visibility of the Fund, over N5 billion investment in Treasury Bills and equity, recovery of over N30 million from facilitators, and in the process of recovering N300million being illegal charges and deductions from an old generation commercial bank.
The handing-over ceremony was streamed live on social media with all the branches and regions hooking up to watch the event in real time.