‘Nigeria’s 60m Informal Workers Social Protection Plan May Fail’

A former International Labour Organisation (ILO) social protection expert, Segun Tekun, has warned that Nigeria’s plan to extend social protection to over 60 million informal sector workers may fail unless deep structural flaws are addressed.

Tekun, in a statement yesterday, said that although Nigeria has progressive social protection laws, they largely fail the informal economy, where more than 80 per cent of Nigerians earn a living.

“Nigeria’s social protection system was built for offices and factories. But Nigeria’s economy runs in markets, on farms, in motor parks and along informal trade routes,” Tekun noted.

He said the gaps cut across all regions of the country.

In the Southwest, market women in Ibadan and Abeokuta still pay out-of-pocket for healthcare, despite the National Health Insurance Authority Act making insurance compulsory.

According to him, in Aba and Onitsha, traders running thriving commercial centres remain excluded from pensions and injury insurance.

Across the North-West and Northeast, farmers and herders face drought, insecurity and health shocks with little to no formal protection.

Tekun said artisanal miners and rural farmers in the North Central suffer frequent work-related injuries without access to compensation schemes.

Along the South-South coast, he added, fisherfolk lose livelihoods to flooding and oil pollution but lack structured insurance or income protection.

On health insurance, Tekun said universal coverage exists “more in law than in real life” three years after the NHIA Act was signed.

He noted that state health insurance schemes in Lagos, Anambra and Kano still focus largely on civil servants and formal private-sector workers.

“In rural Jigawa or Benue, farmers sell produce to pay hospital bills. In riverine Bayelsa, fisherfolk rely on traditional care or debt,” he said.

Tekun blamed fixed premiums, weak outreach and poor service quality for low enrolment among informal workers.

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