General News
Why NIA is Opposed to Workmen’s Compensation under NSITF—Ladipo-Ajayi
Olusola Ladipo-Ajayi, chairman of the Nigerian Insurers association, (NIA) has reiterated the association’s commitment to its stand that the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, is not competent to handle the workmen’s compensation for workers. According to him, their superior argument is hinged on truth and nothing but the truth. He argued that workmen’s compensation fall within the traditional area of insurance which is within the commercial insurance subject area. He said right from time, workmen’s compensation has never been part of social insurance, stressing that injury and death of workmen have always been covered in the commercial market worldwide. He agreed that the Workmen Compensation Act requires amendment and most of the provisions of the Employees Compensation Bill are welcome by the insurance industry, stressing however that in terms of providing the service, it runs contrary to government policy. “You cannot create a huge monopoly out of the administration of employees’ compensation in this country and entrust it with a corporation that has had problems performing its mandate in the past. We all know the story of NPF and we all know the story of NSITF. I am not talking about the institutions now, what I am saying is that with the way that acts is structured, it has always been covered traditionally,” he said.
Ladipo-Ajayi told media men recently that there are a number of issues that the NIA has raised against the bill, and of which it was depending upon the integrity of the National Assembly to look into. He stressed that under this present provision’s there are discriminative provisions, especially for women, and “one of the things that we don’t really like is that, when two workmen are involved in an injury, in a particular incident, and both of them are on the same scale, they have spent the same number of years, serving their employer, the amount of benefit they will derive from the injury or death will depend on certain variables that have not got anything to do with their employment.” he said. Using the foreman as a basis for explanation, he said if a foreman has spent ten years and the other foreman has spent ten years, if there was an explosion in the factory where they were both working and both of them died, how are you now talking about the number of wives, as if you looked at the family history of an employee before you pay their salaries, that has nothing to do with employment, one man may have a wife, the other may not have, another one may have four wives, but their remuneration has nothing to do with their family size. He explained that “in ordinary insurance, there is an element of discrimination, somebody who works in a construction company, who is opened to more physical injury, should pay higher than someone who is a clerk, a civil servant or who is a banker.” But if you are now “asking the staff of major construction companies, who are constructing bridges, roads, and power station, to pay one per cent of their wages, and you are asking bankers to pay one per cent of their own wages too, what it means is that one party is paying less than the risk he’s introducing, and other party paying much more than the risk he’s introducing, one party is subsidizing the other.” He explained that when you look at rating regime in the Workmen Compensation Act, you see that it takes these elements of discrimination into consideration; the clerk pays about 0.75 per cent because the risk of injury is less. You cannot compare that with someone who spends the greater part of his day on the road. Explaining the volume of premium which workmen’s compensation has contributed over time, he stated that the “Workmen Compensation Act only stipulates the benefit accruable to every employee in given circumstances of injury and death, and there is a provision that the minister of labour should make a regulation making the insurance against those employers liability compulsory. But throughout the life of that Act, no regulation was made.” He added that even in Britain, they don’t talk of Workmen Compensation Act, they talk of employers’ liability, because originally, workmen compensation was meant for lowly paid workers, and sometimes in 1970’s, Britain paid employers liability and they took care of all employees, from the chief executive to messengers, not limited it to daily paid workers alone. The NIA boss stated that “one institution cannot manage all the employees in this country. As insurance companies, there are so many of us, if one insurance company does not do well, you can do business with another, but if the NSITF does not do well, where do you go from there? What is the process of seeking redress? Ordinarily, one of the things we pointed out to the National Assembly, is that in debating that Bill in the house, they ought to provide a comparative analysis of the new Bill with the Act it seeks to abolish, because everything about the Workmen Compensation is not totally useless but just specific, it makes it easy for any fool to calculate the Bill, to the extent that if you lose anything, however big or small, there is an amount to be paid. It is a one and for all Bill. You get you compensation in bulk and you go away. He stressed that the numbers of your dependant are immaterial. But the most important thing is that as an employee of a construction firm, and there is a particular incident, four of you are injured, all of you have equal treatment, because the salary your employer pays you is oblivious of your family size or sex.
Chinonso Akujobi, former staff of Access Bank in Lagos, has been remanded in Ikoyi prison after she was arraigned on a five-count charge bordering on stealing to the tune of N294.5m.
Akujobi who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was arraigned before Justice I.O. Ijelu of the State High Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos.
EFCC alleged that Akujobi stole the money between January and December 2025 while under the employment of Access Bank Plc.
As stated in one the charges, the defendant stole the money through unauthorized payments from the general ledger of Access Bank to her account number 0036668871 with the name Chinonso A., Uchechi A. and Florence A., thereby committing an offence of stealing, contrary to Section 280 and punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The defendant pleaded “not guilty“ to the charges when they were read to her.
In view of this, S.M.Yabo, prosecution counsel, asked the court for a trial date and also prayed for the remand of the defendant in a Correctional centre.
Justice Ijelu, thereafter, adjourned the case till October 8, 2026, for the hearing of the bail application and the commencement of trial.
The Judge also ordered that the defendant be remanded in the Ikoyi correctional Centre.
The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) says the flight captain of the VMO Aero aircraft that landed on a roadway near Asaba Airport in Delta State told investigators that the observer pilot mistakenly identified the paved road as the runway before touchdown.
The bureau disclosed this in a preliminary report released on Thursday on the June 10 incident, which prompted the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ground the private jet.
The aircraft had seven people on board, including the pilot-in-command (PIC), second-in-command (SIC), an observer pilot, a cabin crew member and three passengers.
According to the report, the aircraft was cleared by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to approach Runway 11 at Asaba Airport after the crew requested a right orbit.
The crew initially discontinued the approach, executed a missed approach and repositioned for a second landing attempt.
NSIB said the crew reported that the aircraft’s navigation systems indicated it was correctly established on the published RNAV Runway 11 approach.
“The PIC and SIC reported that the observer pilot identified the paved surface ahead as the runway,” the report stated.
However, the observer pilot gave investigators a different version of events.
According to NSIB, he said the aircraft remained inside cloud until late in the approach and that the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) repeatedly issued “TERRAIN, TERRAIN, PULL UP” alerts.
He also said he observed a telecommunications mast directly ahead and instructed the flight captain to abandon the approach and climb immediately.
The bureau further disclosed that a cabin crew member reported that one of the passengers became concerned after overhearing discussions among the pilots and asked whether one of them was undergoing training. The passenger was reportedly reassured that all three pilots on board were experienced captains.
NSIB said no abnormal events were reported in the cabin before touchdown.
The aircraft eventually landed at about 8:57 a.m. on an under-construction paved roadway near Asaba Airport instead of the designated runway.
The bureau said its investigation into the incident is ongoing, while the preliminary report highlights conflicting accounts among the cockpit crew over the circumstances that led to the erroneous landing.
European Union has warned Meta Platforms Inc. that it could face a significant financial penalty unless it changes what regulators describe as the “addictive design” features of Facebook and Instagram.
The European Commission issued the warning in preliminary findings released on Friday, saying Meta had failed to sufficiently address risks posed by its platforms, particularly to children and vulnerable users.
The Commission said features such as infinite scrolling, personalised content recommendations and automatic video playback were designed in ways that encouraged excessive engagement with the platforms.
EU Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, said protecting the physical and mental well-being of European citizens should be a priority for social media companies.
The Commission said Meta should consider introducing design changes, including disabling autoplay and infinite scrolling by default, providing effective screen-time reminders and adjusting recommendation systems to reduce the focus on maximising user engagement.
The findings were issued under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which sets obligations for major online platforms to address risks associated with their services.
Meta, however, rejected the Commission’s conclusions, saying it disagreed with the findings but would continue engaging with European regulators.
The company said it had already implemented measures aimed at protecting younger users, including Teen Accounts that allow parents to manage screen time limits and restrict access during night hours.
The EU said its investigation, which began in 2024, found that existing time-management tools on Facebook and Instagram could easily be bypassed, while parental controls required technical knowledge that limited their effectiveness.
Regulators also expressed concerns over children’s nighttime use of the platforms and the possibility that features such as Reels and Stories could encourage compulsive behaviour.
If the Commission’s preliminary findings are confirmed, Meta could face a fine of up to six per cent of its annual global revenue under the DSA.
The warning comes as the EU steps up efforts to strengthen online safety measures for children, with an expert panel established by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expected to present recommendations on protecting minors online.
Several EU member states, including France, have also supported discussions on restricting social media access for children, following Australia’s decision to ban users under 16 from accessing social media platforms.
Meanwhile, the Commission is continuing a separate investigation into whether Meta’s recommendation algorithms create “rabbit hole” effects by directing users towards increasingly extreme content.
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