By Chesa Chesa
The Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Mr Oluwaseun Faleye, has urged Nigerian entrepreneurs to prioritise workers’ safety and welfare, stressing that sustainable business growth must go hand in hand with employee protection.
Faleye said Nigeria could not build sustainable and globally competitive enterprises without protecting the workers whose skills, commitment and labour drive business growth.
He made the call on Monday in his goodwill message at the Grow Nigerian Conference 2026, themed, “The Next Frontier for Innovation, Policy and Market Access,” held at the Ecobank Pan African Centre (EPAC), Victoria Island, Lagos.
The three-day conference, organised by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), under the leadership of its Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Charles Odii, brought together representatives of the Federal Government, development partners, industry leaders and entrepreneurs.
Commending SMEDAN for sustaining the platform, Faleye described the conference theme as timely, noting that Nigeria must move beyond encouraging business start-ups to building productive and resilient enterprises capable of creating sustainable jobs.
He highlighted the contributions of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), describing them as employers, innovators and the economic lifeline of families and communities.
According to him, from manufacturers in Aba seeking to expand their businesses to women processors in Kano exploring new markets and young technology entrepreneurs in Lagos pursuing global ambitions, MSMEs remain central to Nigeria’s economic transformation.
However, he acknowledged the challenges confronting businesses, including high energy costs, inflation, exchange rate pressures, limited access to affordable financing, inadequate infrastructure and logistics constraints.
“The challenge is not simply to encourage people to start businesses, but to create an environment in which those businesses can survive, expand, compete and prosper,” he said.
Faleye said enterprise development must also address the welfare and safety of workers, warning that businesses could not be considered sustainable if their economic success came at the expense of employees.
“Behind every successful enterprise are people whose skills, commitment and labour sustain its operations. A business cannot truly be considered sustainable if its economic success is achieved at the expense of the safety, dignity and wellbeing of its workforce,” he said.
He explained that the NSITF administers the Employees’ Compensation Scheme under the Employees’ Compensation Act, 2010, which provides compensation, medical support, rehabilitation and income replacement for workers who suffer work-related injuries, diseases, disability or death.
Faleye reaffirmed NSITF’s commitment to supporting Nigerian businesses through effective administration of the Employees’ Compensation Scheme and the promotion of safer workplaces.
“Let us grow Nigerian businesses, protect Nigerian workers and build a prosperous, productive and globally competitive Nigeria,” he said.
