Institutional trust: Key to building public confidence ...NSITF MD

By Afolabi Oyekunle.

Managing Director/Chief Executive, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF),  Barrister  Oluwaseun Falaye, has  emphasised  institutional trust as a key towards building public confidence in the citizenry.

Speaking at the 2026 Law Week of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Gwagwalada Branch in Abuja, Monday,  Barr. Faleye said the future of effective governance in Nigeria depends not only on laws being enacted, but on institutions being strengthened to deliver on their legal obligations. 

"For those of us entrusted with public responsibility, service must mean more than occupying office. It must mean using institutions to protect the vulnerable, to uphold fairness, and to leave systems better than we met them.

"For the Bar, it means defending the integrity of law and ensuring that justice remains accessible, principled, and alive.

"For institutions like NSITF, it means ensuring that social protection is not treated as charity. but as a lawful and necessary pillar of national development.

"For the nation, it means recognizing that sustainable progress is impossible where labour is unprotected, where institutions are weak, and where trust is eroded", he submitted.

Faleye expressed belief that one of the most important tasks before Nigeria as a nation is to bridge the distance between legal rights and lived realities.

"Our laws must work for the worker. Our institutions must work for the citizen. And our governance culture must work for the public good".

        Barrister Oluwaseun Falaye

He added, “Across many societies, and certainly within ours, one of the greatest challenges of governance is not merely policy design but public confidence.

"Citizens want to know that laws will not remain on paper. Workers want to know that statutory protections will function when tested. Employers want clarity, fairness, and predictability. And institutions must earn the confidence of all sides through competence, consistency, and credibility. That is why institutional trust is such an important national question,” he stressed.

Faleye noted that "This gathering is not only a celebration. It is also a moment of reflection. A gathering like this brings together the conscience of the legal profession, the custodians of justice, and men and women whose daily work shapes the relationship between the citizen and the State. 

"It reminds us that institutions do not become strong merely because they are created by law. They become strong when they are led with purpose, administered with integrity, and trusted by the people they were established to serve".

Cross section of the participants

According to the MD, "That is why this recognition is meaningful to me. It is not simply about an individual. It is a recognition of an idea: that public institutions can work; that reform is possible; that service can still be honourable; and that government agencies can be instruments of justice, protection, and human dignity".

      People on the high table

He reiterated that "At the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, this conviction drives our work every day. The mandate of the NSITF, through the Employees' Compensation Scheme, is rooted in a simple but powerful principle: that no worker who suffers injury, disease, disability, or death in the course of employment should be left alone to bear that burden. That principle is both legal and moral. 

"It is legal because it is established under the Employees' Compensation Act. It is moral because it speaks to the kind of society we must build, one in which work is not separated from dignity, and productivity is not detached from protection.

"At NSITF, we understand that trust is not demanded, it is built. It is built claim by claim, process by process, reform by reform, and decision by decision".

Speaking further, the MD lamented that most times public discourse celebrates enterprise, Investment, growth, and productivity without giving equal attention to the human beings whose labour sustains them. 

"But behind every factory, every office, every construction site, every transport system, every public institution, and every service economy are workers who take risks, make sacrifices, and keep the nation moving.

"When such workers are harmed in the course of that service, social justice demands a response. Not sympathy alone. Not rhetoric alone. But a structured, lawful, institutional response. That is the essence of social protection.

He explained that "The law is not only a framework for adjudicating disputes. It is also a civilizational statement of what a society considers acceptable, protected, and just.

"In labour relations, in social insurance, in compensation systems, and in institutional accountability, the law performs one of its noblest functions: it stands between vulnerability and abandonment".

He stressed that "The legal profession, therefore, occupies a central place in the architecture of social trust. Lawyers help to shape the instruments that define rights and obligations. Judges interpret those rights. Regulators enforce them. Public institutions implement them. But ultimately, the citizen encounters justice not only in the courtroom, but in the lived reality of whether institutions respond fairly, promptly, and transparently".

In his welcome address, the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Gwagwalada Branch,  Clever Owhor, said restoring public trust in the nation's legal system requires a shared responsibility by all stakeholders.

He said "This year, we are united under a theme that is both timely and urgent: 'Rebuilding Public Trust in the Nigerian Legal System'.

"Today, we must confront an uncomfortable reality: Many Nigerians are increasingly losing confidence in the legal system.

"Concerns about delays in justice delivery, perceived lack of transparency, ethical challenges, and barriers to access to justice have combined to create a widening gap between the legal system and the public".

Continuing, the chairman noted that "But we must ask ourselves: What is a legal system without the trust of the people? What is justice if it is not believed Rebuilding trust is not the responsibility of one institution alone. It is a collective duty.

"The Bench must continue to uphold independence, integrity, and courage in the dispensation of justice. The Bar must recommit to ethics, professionalism, and fearless advocacy. Government institutions and regulators must embrace transparency and accountability.

"Civil society and the media must continue to hold institutions accountable while promoting civic awareness.

And importantly, young lawyers must rise as a new generation of ethical leaders committed to reform".

According to him, "Trust is not demanded—it is earned. And it is earned through consistent, visible, and measurable actions".