By: Thaimu Bai Sesay
The National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) Director General Mohamed Fuaad Daboh has on Tuesday 17 October 2023 at the weekly government press briefings revealed that President Julius Maada Bio had massively increased the retirement pension from 30 new Leones to a minimum of 250 new Leones per month.
The NASSIT Director General called to mind that when they took over NASSIT, people were earning 30,000 now 30 new Leones per month. Based on that he said for instance, people who were staying at Moyamba could not come for their retirement pensions on a monthly basis, adding that they would choose to wait for like six months before coming for it in order to save transport fare and have at least little to reserve for the family.
“Our President His Excellency Brigadier General Retired Julius Maada Bio after sharing this information with him, he said no more and never again for a retired pensioner to receive less than 250,000 Leones per month across all,” DG Daboh affirmed.
DG Daboh intimated that NASSIT is a social insurance scheme created by government in the last 20 years in order to provide for retirement and other benefits when contingency occurs. In doing that he said they register workers in the country as well as employers. DG Daboh further explained that after the registration, one would have to pay contributions, deducting from one’s salary. “According to the act, you would have to pay 5% and your employers pay 10% for you making it a total of 15% every month,” DG Daboh detailed.
NASSIT Director General recalled that when they came into governance and took over the scheme, he said they encountered host of challenges which a major of them was the compliance issues. He revealed that there were points in time when people were not contributing to the scheme and said the survival of the scheme became threatened as private sectors refused to register their papers. Daboh said that continued in 2018 unto 2019 but affirmed they took a bold step and put a permanent stop to that with sustainable strategies. “We prosecuted 500 cases and win almost all except for three which we did not due to insubstantial evidence. That has translated huge into our consolation income,” he added.
DG Daboh intimated that they met a situation in which only few people knew about NASSIT and what it does due to the inability to reach out to people and tell them about the scheme. He expressed that they came in and occupied the public sector and did effective sensitization. “I have stepped my feet in every police station, military post, teacher’s residence, at the chiefdoms and districts of every part of the country to sensitize them including fire force and many other areas. We have positioned ourselves to create awareness about the activities of NASSIT and today you will see people queuing just to register with NASSIT,” DG Daboh added.
Responding to his topic of ‘Where they are now and where they are headed,” DG Daboh affirmed that they had moved miles away from the status they met. He added that NASSIT is a national property and that it should be protected by everybody. Director Daboh admonished people to pay their contributions, to update their records and to tell their employers to pay for them. On where they are heading he expressed that they would soon go live and assured that it would enable people to check their NASSIT records and update them everywhere.
In addition to where they are heading, NASSIT Director General Mohamed Fuaad Daboh revealed that they are constructing one of their biggest offices in Port Loko, assuring that when they finish that building it would serve as their best office in the whole country. He added that it would ease people’s stress of going to long distance places just to update their records and further assured that it would increase their accessibility.
“We are taking the scheme to the door steps of our members with single access entry to your information,” he expressed.