Mr. Chairman
Deputy Director-General
Directors
Management and Staff of NASSIT
Members of the Press
Good morning to you all. Let me start by collectively wishing all of you a very Happy New Year.
I want to begin by expressing my profound appreciation to all of you who have responded to our invitation to attend this press conference, especially members of the Fourth Estate. Thank you very much.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, with your permission, I want us to please recognize members of the Press who have had their home call to our Almighty God, particularly the most recent.
We pray that their souls will continue to rest in peace
As indicated in the letters sent to you, the purpose of this Press Conference is to apprise our members and the general public, through you, our media friends, of our activities and programmes, especially what we as a Trust were able to achieve in 2018, and what our plans are going forward.
Since my appointment as Director General of this institution on the 30th May, 2018, and my duties handed over to me by the erstwhile Director General on the 7th June, 2018, I have held several staff meetings both in Freetown and the Regional Offices in Bo, Kenema, Makeni and the sub-office in Kono. During these meetings, I informed everybody that one of my main objectives would be to put operations and benefits payment at the centre of our business as they are the reasons for the establishment of the Scheme. To this end, I ensured that the number of Inspectors was increased, and all of them provided with working toolkits. During the presentation ceremony, I understood the important role Inspectors play in the achievement of our objectives; and I would again like to reiterate what I said thus:
“The Inspectors are at the heard of the operations of NASSIT. They are the people that interface with the public regarding the registration of employers and employees, the inspection of employment and financial records of employing institutions. It is therefore only proper that these people are equipped with the requisite instruments and skills that give them the right to go to any institution and inspect their books and ascertain compliance with the NASSIT Act”.
During that same ceremony, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fourth Estate, I also launched the telephone hotlines for customers. There hotlines, which are available via both Orange and Africel networks, are aimed at providing an opportunity for members of the public to easily contact the Trust with their concerns, queries and suggestions. These hotlines are: 811, 812, 813, 814, 815, 816 and 817. At NASSIT, we strongly believe that our customers are the reason for our existence; and so we will do everything possible to accord them a pleasant service at all times.
As a customer-focused institution, my administration also re-introduced the pigeon-hole system to effectively monitor benefit claims processing. We also introduced the Customer Birthday Wish Programme which recognizes our esteemed customers on their birthdays and organised a first of its kind Customer Service Week from 1st to 5th October 20`8 with series of activities and entertainment for our customers, especially our esteemed pensioners. Being a customer centric institution, the celebrations marked an important milestone in our long journey to attaining our avowed quest of maintaining an excellent service delivery system at NASSIT.
Distinguish Ladies and Gentlemen, please be informed that as at December, 2018, we have 14,754 registered establishments with a total insured population of 216,049. From January to December 2018, a total of Le431.3 billion was collected as contribution income of which 62% were collected between June-December 2018. In the area of benefit payments, as at December, 2018, we have 25,175 pensioners (Retirement, Invalidity and Survivors) on our pension payroll, and we paid a total of Le148.5 billion as pensions between January to December 2018.
Last year, we embarked on a nationwide verification of all NASSIT Retirement pensioners. The exercise, which is a normal activity in social security administration, was geared towards ascertaining the existence of such pensioners. Over the years, our pension payroll has continued to increase, and now we have over 17,000 Retirement Pensioners that we pay through the banks. It has therefore been very challenging to get information about deceased pensioners. The exercise which started in October last year ended on the 15th January, 2019.
Mr. Chairman, the Fourth Estate, I strongly believe that training is an investment, and as such, we must have a return on that investment. In my relative short tenure as Director General, a lot of attention has been paid to the capacity building of our staff irrespective of the nature of their job, grade and location. The Trust in the past seven to eight months have undertaken series of trainings to close the skills gap of staff. As the saying goes, you cannot give what you don’t have. It is in that light that upon assuming the Office of Director General, I made it my priority to give staff the requisite knowledge and skills needed to carry out their jobs. We will ensure that we don’t only provide our staff training opportunities, but we will also ensure that all trainings are relevant to the work they do.
Mr. Chairman, in 2015, a National Population and Housing Census was conducted, and one of the outcomes of that census was the modification of the administrative and political map of Sierra Leone. We now have the Northwestern region, with Port Loko as the headquarter. As a proactive Management, we have already identified a building for our office and a parcel of land for the construction of a permanent office complex in Port Loko. Our presence in this region will soon be felt, as we are not only taking our services closer tour customers but also replicate what has been done in the other regions across the country.
I would also like to inform this august gathering that Management, in collaboration with the Judiciary, will be establishing a Social Security Court for all NASSIT compliance cases. The infrastructural work is very far advanced, and hopefully, the court will be opened in the first quarter of this year. This will go a long way in addressing the perennial non-compliance and other issues faced by the Trust.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is important to note that Student housing investment in Sierra Leone is an untapped area that has incredible business opportunities. This has coincided with the growing University enrolment and an increasingly contracted supply of housing facilities for students. This has, left a large and growing supply gap, and efforts to fill the gap from private investors have not been forthcoming. These factors put together, point to a significant opportunity for an institutional player like NASSIT to intervene.
Apart from the huge opportunity associated with student hostel investment, it is expected that such investment will support efforts to address the student accommodation challenges faced by university authorities. It is hoped that this will in turn improve on the student’s living conditions on campus and the overall academic performance of the students.
Engagement with a reputable Chinese company, the Gouiji Construction Company is at an advanced stage for the construction of five blocks of student hostels with ancillary facilities on five university campuses across the country. Each of the five campuses will have a block comprising 216 rooms, with a facility for 432 students. The total number of rooms for the five campuses will amount to 1,080 rooms with facility for 2,160 students across the country.
Ladies and Gentlemen, over 85 percent of the current active population in Sierra Leone is in the informal sector economy. But NASSIT has not been able to cover up to 2 percent of this population since it started operations in 2002 because of its design features which are not compatible with the operations of the informal sector, who constitute the bulk of the Sierra Leone workforce. To address this problem therefore, we shall be rolling out an attractive social security scheme that appropriately addresses the special needs of workers in this sector of the economy.
Mr. Chairman, distinguish Ladies and Gentlemen, it is important to note that improving the health of a nation’s citizens can directly result in economic growth, because there will be more people able to conduct effective activities in the workforce. You will all agree with me that our health sector has challenges particularly the ability to diagnose illness. A coping mechanism has been to seek treatment abroad for those who can afford, whilst the majority who can’t afford have suffered untimely deaths or other complications. It should be noted that the relevance of a quality diagnostic capacity in ensuring the provision of improved services by health facilities is of extreme importance to this nation. The Trust intends to engage credible partner(s) in a joint venture to invest in the construction of an ultra-modern diagnostic centre that will help in addressing the current diagnostic facility gap faced by the country whilst at the same time providing investment income in order to maintain the financial value of the Scheme so as to be able to pay benefits as and when they fall due.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, the ILO Convention 102 covers nine principal branches of social security, namely: medical care, sickness, unemployment, old age, employment injury, family, maternity, invalidity and survivors’ benefits. Since inception, NASSIT has been covering only 3 of the 9 contingencies, i.e. old age, invalidity and survivors’ benefits.
In order to fulfil our mandate of administering a social security programme based on ILO principles, we will be collaborating with the relevant stakeholders (ILO, World Bank, MoHS, MLSS etc.) to design and Implement a Social Health Insurance Scheme for Sierra Leone.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, before now, NASSIT only operates pension account in few commercial banks. Our pensioners who do not have accounts in these banks have been faced with serious challenges/delay in accessing their benefits. My Management has therefore ensured that NASSIT pension accounts are opened in all commercial banks across the country and that all pensioners are now paid directly in their respective banks.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, you are all aware of the meagre amount government pensioners have been receiving as pensions. Some as low as Le25,000 per month. We all here can testify how grossly inadequate this amount has been. HE the President, Brig. Gen (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio, considering the plight of pensioner who have diligently served this country decided that their pensions should be increased to a minimum of Le250,000 per month. I am pleased to inform you all that NASSIT as an administrator of the government pensions has on January 25th 2019 started implementing the policy on minimum pension for government pensioners.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, members of the Fourth Estate and colleagues, I want to emphasize that as a centre of excellence, NASSIT strongly believes in its core values of Transparency and Accountability. I would therefore implore the public, especially our esteemed members and Fourth Estate to continue to support the operations of the Trust.
At NASSIT, we care for our customers; so they can lean on us for a better future.
God bless you. God bless NASSIT. And God Bless the Government and people of Sierra Leone.
I thank you all for your attention