The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has raised the alarm over expanding social security risks facing Nigerian workers, warning that the rapid transformation of the labor market through artificial intelligence, automation, digital platforms, and the gig economy threatens to leave millions without basic safety nets.
Speaking on Sunday, November 1, 2026, at the annual workshop of the Labour Writers Association of Nigeria (LAWAN) in Abuja, NSITF Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Barrister Oluwaseun Mayomi Faleye, called for urgent, comprehensive reforms to modernise Nigeria’s social protection framework.
Faleye emphasized that while technological innovation drives economic competitiveness, digital progress must not come at the expense of fundamental worker protections.
”At its heart, social security is about people — the worker injured on the job, the family that loses its breadwinner, or the individual whose earning power is affected by an accident. Technological progress must not leave workers economically active yet socially unprotected,” Faleye stated during his keynote address.
The Fund’s leadership pointed out that millions of gig workers, digital platform drivers, and freelancers currently operate outside traditional employment contracts.
Because the existing legal framework largely binds social coverage to standard corporate contracts, this growing segment of the workforce remains completely vulnerable to workplace accidents, sudden unemployment, and health crises.
To address these expanding vulnerabilities, the NSITF is pushing to extend its Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS) framework to cover non-standard and informal sector workers, while simultaneously driving stronger compliance among traditional employers across both public and private sectors.
Achieving this transition, Faleye noted, requires active collaboration among government policymakers, organized labor bodies, technology platforms, and media organisations.
At the conclusion of the Abuja event, the Labour Writers Association of Nigeria honored the NSITF chief by conferring on him the “Champion of Workers’ Social Security and Safety Award” in recognition of his ongoing efforts to expand coverage to non-traditional workers across the country.
