The Federal Government has increased the allocation to group life assurance by 80 per cent in the proposed Appropriation Bill for 2025.
Listed under the service-wide votes, the sum of N17.31bn was allocated to “group life assurance for all MDAs (including the Department of State Services/insurance of sensitive assets/members of the National Youth Service Corps, plus administration & monitoring).”
According to the provisions of Section 4 (5) of the Pension Reform Act (2014), employers of labour were mandated to set up group life insurance policies for their workforce. The policy, which ensures that dependents of a deceased employee receive three times his total annual emolument, was meant to cushion the effect of death on a deceased worker’s family.
Similarly, Section 5.5 of the Revised Guidelines on GLIP for Employees provides that the employer shall display a copy of the GLIP certificate in a conspicuous place within its premises, for the information of the employees and as evidence of having taken such policy.
In 2024, the FG approved N9.6bn for the renewal of group life insurance for its workers. The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, at the end of the first Federal Executive Council meeting for 2024, revealed that the N9.6bn was for 12 local insurance firms to cover the federal workers in case of unforeseen eventualities in the course of their duties.
“There are about 12 insurance companies involved. It’s a normal annual cover that insurance companies give workers. So, in the event of death or severe injury, they can resort to it so that their families would not have to suffer,’’ he said.
Also, in the proposed budget was insurance for FGN-sensitive assets, which was allocated N12.42bn.
Under the heading of social benefits under service-wide votes, the sum of N55.64bn was earmarked for gratuity payment, N914.17bn for pension, and N45.92bn for death benefits.
Also, N2.30bn was allocated to pay entitlements of former presidents/heads of state and vice presidents/chiefs of general staff; the benefits of retired heads of service and permanent secretaries stood at N24.01bn, and severance benefits to retired heads of government agencies/parastatals was N1bn.
For the Federal Ministry of Education, provision for group life insurance/insurance benefits for deceased staff matters was embedded in a new item in the ministry’s budget worth N84.76m.
Other items in the line include staff welfare-related matters/staff ID cards; performance and enhancement programme for nurses and midwives; repatriation allowance; staff health/medical request.
Meanwhile, The PUNCH reported that NYSC and 14 other ministries, departments, and agencies of government have planned about N1.41bn as insurance premiums in the 2025 Appropriation Bill that was presented by President Tinubu.
In a breakdown of the expenditure, NYSC plans to spend N1.25bn as insurance premiums, the Ministry of Youth Development—Hqtrs proposed N10m, while the Ministry of Environment Headquarters plans about N9m for insurance premiums in the new year.
The office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President MDG (OSSAP-MDGS) has N3m as an insurance premium planned.
Others with insurance premiums budgeted include the National Senior Citizen Centre, National Commission for Persons with Disability, National. Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, National Biosafety Management Agency HQtrs, and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency with N15m, N17.39m, N28m, N3.5m, and N632,133, respectively.
Gashaka Gumti National Park, Kainji National Park, and the Forestry Research Institute of Ibadan had budgets for insurance premiums worth N3.05m, 2.07m, and N6m, respectively.
