By: Mohamed Jalloh
In the opening ceremony of NASSIT`s 20th anniversary member`s conference, the vice president Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh has urged the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) to invest in housing and health infrastructure.
The vice president made the appeal as a key note speaker in NASSIT`s 2o years celebration and member’s conference at the Freetown International Conference Center on Thursday 13th October 2022.
The Vice president challenged the management of NASSIT to engage in what he called smart investment in the health and housing sector.
He said Sierra Leoneans are spending huge amounts out of their pockets for health services, and in most cases people are seeking these services out of the shores of the country.
Dr Juldeh Jalloh appealed to NASSIT to purchase x-ray and dialyses machines and outsource the management of these equipment to the private sector to run them as a profit venture.
“By investing in the health sector NASSIT will help in strengthening the Sierra Leone, Social Health Insurance(SLESHI)scheme”,Dr Jalloh Pointed out.
He said NASSIT must step in to close the infrastructural gap in the health sector, as according to him doctors are not helping the situation because their private hospitals are well equipped whilst government hospitals lack basic facilities.
In the same vein, Dr Jalloh called on NASSIT to review its investment port-folio to include affordable housing for ordinary citizens.
He said Freetown is already overpopulated, and building housing facilities in Lungi outside of the capital city would be a visionary and a smart investment policy by NASSIT.
He emphasized that NASSIT must invest in the health and housing sector, and outsource these investments to the private sector to run them because the private sector is profit driven.
He called on the National Social Security and Insurance Trust’s (NASSIT) to accelerate reform of the trust and review its investment portfolios to further enhance the viability of the trust.
The second gentleman encouraged the Trust to position its investments within the human capital development vision of President Maada Bio particularly to support affordable health care services and the roll out of the health insurance scheme to reduce out of pocket expenditure to access healthcare.
Dr Juldeh Jàlloh thanked the Minister of Labour and the entire management team for keeping the vision of the institution and its founders alive. He reiterated government continued support to implement the findings of the comprehensive audit on the Trust. The chairman of the occasion, the Managing Director of NP praised the VP’s intervention as a clear road map for NASSIT. He further entreated the Scheme to refocus its investment portfolio on health infrastructure in partnership with the private sector to run the facilities.
Mr Fuoad Daboh the Director General of NASSIT said the trust has come a long way since it was established in May1 2022 by the late former president Alhaji Tejan Kabbah.
He revealed that in previous years pensioners were receiving as low as Le15000 as pension.
He said since president Bio took over the mantle of governance, pensioners are currently receiving a basic income of Le 250,000.
“In order to tackle the issue of affordable housing, NASSIT is targeting the construction of 5000 unit of housing for the people”, the NASSIT DG disclosed.
He further revealed that the trust is poised to review the current NASSIT act so as to cover the entire informal sector, people living with disabilities, tackle housing poverty and the provision of universal health care as espoused by the vice president Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh.
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