Minister Warns Against Neglect Of Workers’ Safety For Productivity

The federal government has warned employers against compromising workers’ safety in the pursuit of productivity, declaring that sanctions and prosecutions will follow any violation of occupational safety laws.

The minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, gave the warning in Abuja yesterday at the Northern Zone edition of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF)–Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) Safe Workplace Intervention Project (SWIP’25), a national initiative promoting safer work environments.

Onyejeocha said the northern region remained central to Nigeria’s economic activity, with mining, construction, manufacturing and agro-processing sectors employing millions of workers who face daily occupational risks.

She stressed that while the Employees’ Compensation Act provides a framework for supporting injured workers, the government’s priority was prevention rather than post-incident compensation.

The minister called on NSITF and the organised private sector to move beyond advocacy to peer accountability and industry-led safety practices. She said the government would no longer tolerate situations where jobs were created at the expense of human lives.

“This government will no longer tolerate employers who endanger Nigerians in the name of productivity. Creating jobs must never come at the cost of human lives.

“Employers who violate occupational safety laws will be sanctioned, and where negligence leads to loss of life, they will be prosecuted in accordance with the law,” Onyejeocha said.

NECA president, Ifeanyi Okoye, described workplace safety as a strategic business imperative rather than a regulatory obligation, noting that safe workplaces enhance productivity, protect human capital and reduce compensation exposure.

He said the SWIP initiative had helped deepen awareness of the Employees’ Compensation Act while encouraging employers to embed safety into organisational culture.

“Workplace safety is no longer a regulatory obligation alone; it is a strategic business imperative. Safe workplaces enhance productivity, protect human capital, reduce compensation exposure, and ultimately support business sustainability and national economic growth,” Okoye said.

The managing director of NSITF, Oluwaseun Faleye, said the 2025 SWIP journey reflected a national shift from reactive compensation to proactive prevention. He said the programme demonstrated that worker protection and business sustainability were mutually reinforcing objectives, not competing interests.

“We are pivoting from a model of reactive compensation to proactive prevention. We would rather spend one naira teaching you how to prevent a fall than spend one million naira treating a spinal cord injury,” Faleye said.

The SWIP project, jointly driven by NSITF and NECA, forms part of a series of regional engagements held across the country, following earlier sessions in Lagos and Enugu.

The Abuja event also marked the culmination of the 2025 SWIP and featured the presentation of awards, ambulances and safety equipment to compliant organisations.