WORKPLACE INJURY COMPENSATION IN NIGERIA AND THE CHANGES INTRODUCED BY THE EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION ACT, 2010

Abstract

Under the Employee Compensation Act, 2010 applicable to Nigeria, all employers and employees are included in the compensation scheme although this does not extend to members of the armed forces, other than such members employed in a civilian capacity. Using the doctrinal research method, the paper examined and found out that the major feature of the ECA 2010 is that it establishes the Employees Compensation Fund into which employers shall make contributions and expanded the coverage and compensation provided by the scheme unlike the erstwhile workmen compensation Act of 2004. The Employee Compensation Act, 2010 has put in place an employee compensation scheme that consolidates workers’ compensation through the establishment of the Employees Compensation Fund which is managed by the Management Board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund in the interest of both Employers and employees in cases of fatalities resulting from or in the course of employment. This paper having found out that the diseases mentioned in the first schedule to the Act falls short of the international standard by leaving out 33 categories of internationally recognised diseases therefore recommended that these diseases should be included as compensable diseases. The law must also state categorically if all the conditions for qualification for compensation in the case of diseases as mentioned in section 9 of the Employee Compensation Act, 2010 should be interpreted conjunctively or disjunctively. The implementation of the provisions of the law should be applied more aggressively, while paying compensation benefits to injured workers timorously with minimal delays. The research applied the Doctrinal and comparative research theories.