By Amin Kef Sesay
On the 5th December 2020 the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) awarded long serving members of staff of the Trust at the Freetown International Conference Centre, Aberdeen in Freetown.
Speaking during a general meeting of all NASSIT staff from across the country, the Director General, Mr. Mohamed Fuaad Daboh, thanked everybody, especially the awardees, for their support and dedication to work, saying, “You worked to achieve the goals we set for ourselves. You bring so much to the table and that makes me so pleased”.
Dilating on some of the achievements in 2020, the Director General said coordinated efforts were made to deepen public knowledge about the operations of the scheme, and to address customer queries and complaints. “We have decided to adopt a sectoral approach in our public education drive. Between July and August, 2020, we successfully conducted public education sessions for personnel of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) in all military locations across the country,” Mr. Daboh explained.
He also mentioned that the Trust, in collaboration with the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Sierra Leone Police, launched public education campaign for the personnel of the Sierra Leone Police, and that the first phase of the nationwide engagement with the police had already been completed in the Western Area, and the second phase which would target the regions would be rolled out in January, 2021.
Mr. Daboh also informed staff that early this year, the Government of Sierra Leone lifted the ban on the procurement process for the Web-based Pension Administration System that was imposed by the previous Government, and that steps had been taken to equip the system with special features that would enhance operations and benefits processes. He explained that the Trust engaged the services of an ICT firm for the cleaning of the membership data saying, “The firm which commenced the cleaning of our members’ data in April has as at October, viewed and edited 261,693 Members’ Registration (SS1A) Forms out of a total of 345,847, representing a completion rate of 76%, and 28,088 out of 59,701 Members’ Update (SS1C) Forms, representing a completion rate of 47%.
Other achievements the Director General mentioned were the re-introduction of the pigeon-hole system to effectively monitor Social Security benefits claims processing as well as customer queries and complaints, and the establishment of the customer telephone hotlines to handle customer queries, complaints and requests, the launching of Project 54+ with the aim of overcoming the challenges faced by the Trust during processing and payments of NASSIT Benefits, and the Customer Service Mobile Clinic in the Western Area, and the establishment of a functional Social Security Court to sit on compliance cases.
Commenting on coverage expansion, Mr. Daboh explained that as at September this year, there was a cumulative figure of 17,730 registered establishments and 245,649 registered members of the Scheme, adding that 24,996 pensioners were on the payroll, apart from the Government and the NPA Pensioners for which the Trust was administering payments. He intimated that with the Trust’s desire to have offices in all the regional headquarters, operations had already commenced in Port Loko for the Northwest region.
Mr. Daboh also disclosed that the ban that was imposed on the Trust’s investment was lifted by the Government of H.E. Brig. (Rtd) Julius Maada Bio early this year, and that Management was assiduously working towards the implementation of the recommendations of the Technical Audit Report relating to NASSIT Investments.
The Director General also mentioned plans such as the review of the NASSIT Act, the establishment of the Sierra Leone Social Health Insurance, the activation of the blueprint of the informal Sector Scheme, the students Loan Scheme, the Students hostels, the construction of the Northwest Regional Office in Port Loko, and a District Office in Moyamba as projects to be undertaken.
The programme was climaxed with the presentation of awards to Forty-One (41) long serving staff of the Trust.
