NASSIT ON INNOVATION & DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
The resilient and determined Director General of National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT), Mohamed Fuaad Daboh, has over the five years accelerated the implementation of programmes and projects geared towards innovation and digital transformation strategy.
Under his shrewd leadership, the Trust has made relentless efforts to turn around the fortunes of the Scheme despite the challenges in the enforcement of compliance and the payment of benefits.
To overcome the challenges in the processing and payment of benefits, the administration of the NASSIT Director introduced Project 54+ with the sole aim of mitigating the delays in the payment of benefits.
The Trust has also introduced Project 54+ which primary mandate is to interface with its customers from both the public and private sectors in order to ensure that members’ data are up-to-date before they apply for their benefits.
This Project, according to Mohamed Fuaad Daboh, is doing very well in attaining its established objective.
Under the indefatigable leadership of Mr. Daboh, the NASSIT administration has worked assiduously to expand coverage and increase NASSIT presence nationwide. For instance, the Trust has not only gone to Port Loko City but has commenced the construction of an ultra-modern edifice to house the office on a permanent basis. The Trust has also secured land for the first District Office to be constructed in Moyamba, which will commence in February this year.
As a Statutory Public Trust charged with the responsibility to administer the national Pension Scheme, NASSIT provides retirement and other benefits to meet the contingency needs of workers and their targeted beneficiaries. While membership to the scheme is compulsory for the Formal Sector, people in the Informal Sector or self-employed can join voluntarily.
A steady progress has also been made by the Social Security Court and for the robust activities undertaken by the Operations Division to enforce compliance, increase contribution collection, and pursue non-complying institutions.
On service delivery, some of the major successes of NASSIT include the mobile clinic organized in Bo and the Western Area, the Hit-the-Street campaign, and the sectoral approach to public education with the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) and the Sierra Leone Teachers Union. The Trust also completed the construction of the North/West Region Office in Port Loko City, construct an affordable Students’ Hostels for Universities nationwide, partnered with investors to construct an ultra- modern Medical Centre, completed the restructuring of the Trust’s ICT system to one of the best platforms in the country, and designed and operationalized an appropriate scheme for the Informal Sector. The aforesaid developments at NASSIT were the plan laid out by the shrewd Director General for 2022.
With Mr. Daboh at the helm of things at NASSIT, Scheme Members of the Trust will be assured of his resilience, dedication and commitment to fulfill the Trust’s mandate to register workers and people in the Informal Sector, manage their finances and biodata, print statements and process their benefits.
NASSIT should therefore be commended for its overwhelming successes under the shrewd leadership of Mr. Daboh, especially on the seamless pension payment which has lifted many Sierra Leoneans out of poverty. The extension of social protection coverage to the Informal Sector is also a laudable venture that will give every Sierra Leonean the opportunity to have the much deserved respect upon retirement, given that it accounts for 92% of the workforce in Sierra Leone.