2.China :Employers Liability is a Compulsory Insurance in China. It is carried out in the scope of Dalian for Crew and Labour insurance within the category of Social Insurance. (3).Brazil:Here, it is a Compulsory insurance under social security benefits for workers. (4).Germany:Germany operates a system of Compulsory state insurance against accidents to workmen. This is backed by labour laws which date from 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1900 to 1903. (5).Austria:It is a Compulsory insurance backed by the 1887 law. (6).France:France operates a system of compulsory state insurance against work related diseases, accidents, injuries and death and is backed by 1898 law. (7).United Kingdom:Workmen’s Compensation (referred to as employer’s liability) is a class of insurance underwritten by the insurance industry. (8).Russia:By the law which came into force on the 1st of January 1904, employers are bound to indemnify workers by insuring them with insurance companies.Other countries where insurance companies undertake workmen’s compensation insurance are Belgium, Sweden, Holland and Spain.
Continuing, the association stated that : "With Market Capitalization of over N600bn, a network of over 1000 branches in addition to very strong, reliable and efficient Information Technology infrastructure, there is no gain saying that the insurance industry is already equipped with adequate capacity to continue with the effective management of Workmen’s Compensation insurance program". It further stated that the Bill is an unnecessary duplication of statutes and roles, and should not be passed into law. In addition, It said that the development is more curious now that the NSITF is proposing to reinsure the fund with insurers, arguing that its is absurd as NSITF do not have the authorization, technical competence and professional knowledge to engage in Insurance and reinsurance activities. "Needless saying that the NSITF has failed many Nigerians in time past, and there is nothing to suggest that there is a change now", it went on.
The association therefore posited that the Workmen’s Compensation in our opinion should remain with the insurance industry for the following reasons: *Insurance industry remained the primary institution legally recognized to provide the technical expertise in Risk management and administration of this very crucial aspect of social insurance; *The antecedent of the NSITF in the area of funds management does not seem to support its desire to assume a bigger responsibility which would impact directly on the life of workers.*Also, the initiative of providing adequate compensation for workmen under the proposed Bill should be the responsibility of the Insurance Industry.*The proposed system had not yielded any fruitful result even in other countries. South Africa for example had to revert to insurance system when the intended Self Insurance as proposed by bill was unable to meet their objectives. *Insurance industry is effectively and robustly supervised by NAICOM and in addition, publicly quoted companies are regulated by (SEC), and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) both in operations, corporate governance, and investment, amongst others. To this end, it further pointed out that Nigeria presently has 42 insurance companies authorized to provide the necessary cover for various types of risks including workplace injury, accident and death. This is even as it urge the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity Committee to note: that there is in existence a Workmen compensation Act 2004 which provides benefits for injury, accident or death of an employee while in the work place and during working hours.
•That the regulation which should have enhanced the effective enforcement of the Act was yet to be provided by the Minister of Labour – Mr. Emeka Wogu
•That the proposed Workmen Compensation Bill 2010 would not materially add any value to the existing operational framework of compensating workers for losses suffered in the workplace.
•That the benefits to be provided by the Bill are employers liabilities which are within the scope of insurance and for which the insurance industry had been providing and should be allowed to continue to provide
*That the entire process of setting aside the fund to be managed by the NSITF from where the benefits would be paid as proposed in the Bill has the tendency to follow in the ways of such funds which had earlier been set up;
Consequent upon this, NIA pleaded with the Senate Committee to urgently put in place the regulation that would enhance the enforcement of the Workmen Compensation Act 2004, maintaining that he proposed Workmen Compensation Bill 2010 is unnecessary and would serve no useful purpose. Back...
