The Director General of the National Social Security and Insurance Trust – NASSIT on Friday 3rd January 2020 expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the staff of the Institution for their dedication, hardwork and commitment in the provision of quality social protection for the people of Sierra Leone.
He said, “2019 has been an eventful year with so many accomplishments through your hard work and dedication. I am humbled to say thank you for your support. ”
The Director General made this declaration during his New Year message at the first town hall meeting in 2020 held on the 3rd January at the Institution’s Regional Office, West.
Strolling through the successes of the Institution in 2019, the Director General acknowledged with full complement the dedicated, hard-working and forwarding looking Board of Trustees that diligently supervised the activities of the Trust.. “Our success can be alluded to the dynamism and commitment they displayed”, the DG said.
On Human Resource and Administration, the DG expressed his gratitude for the numerous strides made in 2019 ranging from staff training and development, welfare support to staff in times of sicknesses, death, bereavement, marriages and naming ceremonies, Health education and also technical support to other Divisions in their daily duty.
On Finance Division, the DG extolled the Division for prudent financial management. “You were able to supervise the budget and budgetary controls, work with the Internal and External Auditors for the provision of 2017 and 2018 Financial Report and to also manage the liquidity position of the Trust. Thank you for a job well done. “, Mr. Daboh stated.
The D G said he was very pleased with the steady progress in the Investment and Project Division. He lauded the Division for being able to successfully pay the Afrinord Loan, revamp the Freetown International Conference Centre that is making huge income and the reengineering of some of our subsidiary companies such as the Sierra Estate Management Company- Semco. Today, he said, Semco is getting better. It has in addition to the Management of all NASSIT plazas in the country secured contract to manage the Fourah Bay College student hostels.
To the Operations staff, Mr. Daboh expressed his satisfaction for the robust activities undertaken by the Division to enforce compliance, increase contribution collection, pursue non -complying institutions, participates in the teacher registration and collect of over 34.6 Billion Leones as contribution arrears. Counting on the successes of the Public Affairs Division, the Director General gave an astonishing accolade to the Division for revitalizing and taking the lead in the re-branding processing. He said in 2019, Public Affairs was able to conduct Public Lectures to over 10,000 students in two universities, conduct face to face education to over 109 institutions across the country, hold the first Press Seminar, Organise an Employers Banquet and also popularize and support all activities of the Trust.
“Today our visibility is every strong and our image and public confidence is huge, ” he said,
As for Customer Service Department, he said, they stand no less deserved.
He went on to say that department’s swift response to our numerous customers, the hotlines, the customer service week celebration, the pensioners birth celebration and wishes and the charity at St Martin Orphanage in Port Loko were all very huge contribution to the 2019 success story.
Mr. Daboh also showered his appreciation to the Legal and Board Secretariat for the provision of appropriate legal advice to the Institution and their role in the establishment of the much anticipated Social Security Court.
On the Benefit Division, the Director General intimated his audience that the payment of Benefit is a core function and very crucial to the success of the Institution. He said, “No matter what we achieve in other divisions, if we fail to pay prompt and accurate benefit, we will remiss in our duty”,
He therefore applauded the Division for the upsurge in the timely processing and payment of Benefit, the vigorous input in the verification of retirement, Invalidity and survivor’s pensioners and the robust firewall to detect fraudsters.
He concluded on a note of appeal.
“I am conscious of the fact that there are times I push you hard and even harder. This is due to my determination to reposition the Institution. 2019 has not gone without challenges.
Shedding tears over missed opportunities of the year gone by might cloud your vision and may cause you to miss out on opportunities of the present. I therefore encourage you all to override the challenges and bring in changes that you wish to see.
As I conclude, let me highlight our 2020 intentions:
2020 is a year full of expectation and opportunities. I therefore call on all staff to brace themselves for the coming year.
Apart from building on the current stride to improve performance, we intend to;
1. Commence operations in the North West Region Office in Port Loko,
2. Construct affordable Student Hostel for Universities across the country.
3. Partner with investors to construct utra- modern Medical centre
4. Acquire an operating ICT platform.
5. Design and operationalize an appropriate scheme for the informal sector
6. Work with the Ministry of Tertiary Education and Ministry of Finance to design and establish a student loan scheme and to review our invest portfolio and the NASSIT Act.
We owe it to our people and ourselves to make NASSIT succeed. And there is nothing more other than that.
Thank you and have a blissful 2020″.