The National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) and the Sierra Leone Police (SLP), on Tuesday, 20th October, 2020, launched a nationwide sensitisation programme for the personnel of the Sierra Leone Police at the Kingtom Senior Police Officers Mess in Freetown.

Delivering the keynote address, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon. David Maurice Panda-Noah entreated police personnel to not only ensure that their records were correct and up-to-date but to also be part of the process as they were partners in the quest of a sustainable scheme. He said Government believed in citizens’ engagement, and therefore members of the public were fully engaged in the day to day running of the state.

“It is out of this strong conviction that NASSIT is here to talk to you, the members. We should talk, we should engage, and understand the process”, the Minister emphasised.

He lauded the efforts of Director General and staff of NASSIT for the timely engagement with the Sierra Leone Police, and encouraged personnel to make good of the exercise, gain knowledge, check for the correctness of their data, update regularly and ask relevant questions to clear their doubts about the scheme.

Hon. Panda-Noah said the nature of employment of the Sierra Leone Police made it imperative that some tangible arrangements were put in place for serving personnel to enable them live respectable and dignified life after retirement. 

In his statement, the Director General of NASSIT, Mohamed Fuaad Daboh, reminded his audience that “NASSIT is a statutory Public Trust charged with the responsibility of administering the Sierra Leone National Pension Scheme. According to the NASSIT Strong man, the Scheme provides retirement and other benefits to meet the contingency needs of workers and their dependants”.

According to Mr. Daboh, the engagement was borne out of a request by the leadership of the Sierra Leone Police for a nationwide engagement with its personnel, and that the launching marked the commencement of a programme that would take NASSIT to every area of the police deployment in the country.

“This event is divided into two phases. The one launched today will see NASSIT across the Western Area in the remaining months of 2020, while the second phase that will take the remaining regions of the country will be in the early part of 2021”, the Director General explained.

Mr. Daboh used the occasion to re-emphasise NASSIT’s commitment to the timely processing and payment of benefit, contingent on the correctness of the data available at the time of application.

Concluding his statement, the Director General intimated his audience that among other improvements, his administration introduced Project 54+ with the sole aim of mitigating the delays in the payment of benefit.

“We have also introduced Project 54+ which primary mandate is to interface with our customers from both the public and private sectors in order to ensure that members data are up-to-date before they apply for their benefits. When this is done correctly, it will ensure timely processing and payment of benefits,” the Director General stated.

On his part, the Inspector General of Police, Ambrose Michael Sovula, appreciated the Director and Staff of NASSIT for what he called a timely and laudable venture, adding that the engagement of NASSIT with the Sierra Leone Police would undoubtedly help to ease most of the challenges the Police personnel face in their interactions with the Trust.

Mr. Sovula explained that most of those challenges were as a result of lack of proper education on the Scheme, and therefore implored on NASSIT to always liaise with the Gender and Human Resources Division of Sierra Leone Police as they were always willing and ready to cooperate.

The Inspector General of Police registered his confidence and trust in the current Director General of NASSIT by stating that the ugly past of NASSIT would be put to rest with Mr. Mohamed Fuaad Daboh at the helm of Affairs.

“The Police have not been living a dignified and respectable life after retirement but with the New Direction under the leadership of President Bio, things will be fixed”, he concluded.

The programme ended with a presentation on key models of the scheme followed by a question and answer session.

NASSIT, WE CARE!