Nigeria must measure social security impact – Institute

Nigeria must move beyond enacting laws and establishing institutions for social protection and begin measuring how effectively those frameworks deliver enforceable benefits to ordinary citizens, the Institute of Leadership, Coaching and Strategy has said.

The institute said the existence of laws covering pensions, employee compensation, health insurance, unemployment and social assistance did not, by itself, amount to an effective social-security system.

The President and Chairman of the governing council of the institute, Dr Olasunkade Azeez, raised the concerns last week while speaking at the institute’s eighth monthly webinar series, held on September 18, with the theme, “Social Security in Nigeria: A Myth or Reality?”

Azeez said the country’s social-security debate should shift from the existence of legislation to the extent to which those laws translated into meaningful protection for Nigerians facing poverty, unemployment, retirement insecurity, healthcare costs, disability and old age.

“Social security is not merely a matter of welfare or government benevolence. It is closely connected to questions of rights, justice, economic security, responsible governance, social inclusion and sustainable national development,” he said.

He added, “Nigeria had developed some laws, regulations, policies and institutions intended to provide social protection and security for different categories of citizens and workers,” but argued that the effectiveness of those arrangements could not be determined simply by their existence.

“The critical question, however, is not simply whether these laws and institutions exist,” Azeez said.

He asked: “How effective are they? Who is actually covered? What rights and entitlements are legally enforceable? What remedies are available when those rights are denied?”

He added that the more fundamental question was “to what extent does the existing legal framework translate into meaningful social security for the ordinary Nigerian?”

Azeez said answering those questions would require an assessment of implementation, accessibility, enforcement, accountability and institutional capacity rather than a review of legislation alone.

His comments come amid continuing efforts by the Federal Government and development partners to widen social-protection coverage.

The International Labour Organisation said in December 2025 that more than 60 million Nigerians lacked pensions, health insurance, maternity protection or employment-injury compensation, with informal workers accounting for most of the country’s labour force.

The institute said the problem was also broader than the legal architecture, arguing that social security depended on financing, public policy, institutional effectiveness and the quality of leadership.

Azeez said a sustainable system required “adequate financing, sound public policy, effective institutions, responsible leadership, transparency and accountability.

“It also requires a social compact in which citizens understand both their rights and responsibilities.”

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He said the discussion must take account of the economic pressures that leave households vulnerable, including poverty, unemployment, retirement insecurity, healthcare costs, disability, old age and the welfare of vulnerable children.

The institute president also called for employers, professional bodies, civil society organisations, communities and individuals to play a role in strengthening the country’s social-protection system.

He said the issue was particularly relevant to leadership because public leadership should be judged not only by the positions people occupied but by the systems they built and the quality of life those systems produced.

“Leadership is not simply about occupying positions of authority. It is about creating systems that improve the quality of human life and building institutions that remain responsive to the needs of society,” Azeez said.

He urged policymakers and other stakeholders to consider what kind of social-security architecture Nigeria would need in the future rather than limiting the debate to immediate problems.

“Strategic leadership demands that we look beyond immediate challenges and ask what kind of social security architecture Nigeria needs for the future,” he said.

Azeez said the institute’s responsibility was to contribute ideas capable of turning social-security policies from stated intentions into systems that Nigerians could actually access.

“Our responsibility as leaders, professionals and members of society is therefore to contribute ideas that can help transform social security from policy intentions into practical, accessible and sustainable outcomes,” he said.

The webinar featured a legal perspective from Kehinde Hasaan Bamiwola, an institute Fellow and lawyer, whom Azeez described as having experience in law, scholarship and professional practice.

Azeez said the institute deliberately framed the discussion around whether social security in Nigeria was “a myth or a reality” because existing programmes demonstrated that some form of protection existed, while significant questions remained about their reach and effectiveness.

“Perhaps the answer lies somewhere between the two. There are undoubtedly policies, laws, institutions and programmes designed to provide social protection.

“At the same time, significant questions remain about their reach, effectiveness, adequacy and accessibility,” he said.

Azeez added that the objective should therefore not be to settle the question rhetorically, but to identify the gaps in the system and develop practical responses.

“Our task today is not merely to ask the question, but to interrogate the realities, identify the gaps and explore practical pathways towards a more inclusive and sustainable social security system for Nigeria,” Azeez concluded.