Introduction
The Nigerian creative industry has experienced massive growth over the last decade. According to the Africa Entertainment and Media Outlook report, the industry is poised to yield an estimated revenue of over $14.8 billion by 2025. This projected growth reflects the sector's substantial influence on Nigeria's economy, extending beyond entertainment in the context of music, film, comedy, and skit-making to other creative aspects such as television, festivals, talent shows, gaming, and fashion, among others.
According to Jobberman, a leading career portal in Nigeria, the creative industry is positioned as Nigeria's second-largest employer of labour and has the potential to produce additional 2.7 million jobs by 2025. The entertainment sector, as a major subset of the creative industry, contributes largely to the growth of the creative space in terms of increased awareness and global recognition, business opportunities, revenue generation, and workforce. However, even with such influx of investment and the resulting increased workforce, relatively few employers in the industry provide adequate cover for their employees in relation to insurance for injuries and other emergencies associated with carrying out their jobs.
In Nigeria, the Employee Compensation Act, 2010 (ECA or "the Act") introduced the Employee Compensation Scheme (ECS) for employees who suffer accidents, injuries, disability or even death occurring while performing their employment duties amongst other things.
This article aims to discuss the issue of adequate protection
and/or compensation for Nigerian employees in the entertainment
industry who may experience any form of mishaps while doing their
jobs. We will also proffer our suggestions to promote increased
participation and compliance by employers with the ECA
Overview of the Employee Compensation Scheme (ECS)
On December 17, 2010, the Employees Compensation Act (ECA), 2010 was signed into law and repealed the Workmen's Compensation Act, 2004. Amongst other things, the ECA introduced extensive guidelines for compensation for death, injury, mental stress, occupational disease, and other hazards arising in the course of employment. Section 2(1) of the ECA made provisions that covers all employers and employees/workers in the Federal Republic of Nigeria's public and private sectors. This means that, any individual that falls into the category of an employer or employee as defined by the Act becomes entitled to the benefit subject to strict compliance with the provisions of the ECA and the conditions therein.
Therefore, it becomes necessary to understand the definition of an employer and an employee in the Act.
- An employee is defined as a person employed by an employer under an oral or written contract of employment, whether on a continuous, part-time, temporary, apprenticeship, or causal basis, and includes a domestic servant who is not a member of the family of the employer, including any person employed in the Federal, State and Local Governments, and any of the government agencies and in the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
- An employer is defined to include any individual, body corporate, Federal, State or Local Government or any of the government agencies who has entered a contract of employment to employ any other person as an employee or apprentice.
Based on these definitions, any person who is engaged in any type of paid employment in Nigeria is an employee while a person that engages another in paid employment is an employer irrespective of the nature and form with which the contract was entered.
It is important to note, however, that although the ECA was established to protect employees, contribution to the scheme is a cost to the employer but calculated on the basis of employee compensation. Section 33 (1) of the Act provides that every employer is required to make a minimum contribution of 1% of the total monthly payroll into the scheme.
Overview of the Nigerian Entertainment Industry.
The value of the entertainment industry to the Nigerian economy had been largely overlooked both in terms of formal and informal job creation, revenue generation and its impact on the general youth population until recent years. In Nigeria, there has been a steady influx of employers/workers to this industry, including but not limited to songwriters, actors, actresses, film crew, choreographers, animal trainers, publicists, personal assistants, photographers, video editors, producers, booking agents, animators, managers, dancers, makeup artists, voice-over artists, cinematographers, marketers, and audio engineers. Additionally, the Nigerian entertainment industry has been recorded to be one of the fastest-growing creative industries in the world and has the potential to become one of Nigeria's biggest exports. In 2021 the Nigerian film industry "Nollywood" alone contributed 2.3% (NGN 239 billion) to the GDP with an annual production of over 2,500 films, and it is projected that the industry will increase its export revenue earnings to about $14.8 billion by 2025.
The music sector of the Nigerian entertainment industry also recorded significant and steady growth for several years gaining international recognition and winning prestigious international and local accolades. Some of our artists like Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun (Wizkid) and Damini Ogulu (Burnaboy) had received Grammy awards while others like David Adeleke(Davido), Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe(Ayra Starr), Divine Ikubor (Rema) etc have snagged multiple nominations while also performing on the world's biggest stages. This recognition has served as an attraction to more investments from several sources thereby improving the public perception and establishment of some structure in the industry. For instance, Spotify, the global leader in music streaming, entered the Nigerian market in 2020 as part of a broader universal expansion goal.
This increase in awareness and workforce in the entertainment industry consequently puts added pressure on the stakeholders and practitioners to excite their audience through improved outputs which in-turn pushes the boundaries and increases the demands on workers in the industry. This unfortunately also increased the likelihood, severity, and impact of work-related accidents. The use of some locations, equipment for carpentry, electrical work, costumes, and other tasks required in the preparation of a set may be potentially dangerous during a video production. An example of this was the unfortunate demise of a well-known actor who drowned while trying to access the selected location for a particular scene for a movie production. In addition to this, practitioners in this industry face much more than just physical risks; the psychological demands of their work and the long hours of preparation can lead to stress, distractions and sometimes, physical harm.
Considering the above, adequate attention/consideration should be given to the health and safety of employees in this sector in Nigeria. There is an urgent need for adequate accident mitigation/safety measures in addition to proper insurance cover for damages while all the necessary safety procedures required on every aspect of the work and an effective compensation process for affected workers to be put in place.
In addition to the need for the appropriate regulatory body to ensure that employers in the entertainment industry become more responsible for the wellbeing of their employees/workers during productions, the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), need to be more aggressive in driving ECS compliance for employers in the entertainment industry.
Employee Compensation Scheme & Entertainment Industry
Employees are the bedrock of every organization's success; thus, they are the most vital assets to any business. It therefore behooves on employers to ensure that their employees are treated with the level of importance they deserve in terms of their contribution to the growth and sustainability of every organization. Asides from compensation and other forms of incentives designed to motivate employees, another very important factor that promotes employees' commitment and productivity in the workplace is safety. The knowledge that there is an efficient process and adequate equipment/facilities in the workplace that serves to mitigate incidents of injuries and other work-related hazards will generally foster the feeling of safety amongst employees which in-turn improves productivity. This form of insurance is the purpose of social security schemes like the ECS.
Based on popular opinion, the number of employers in the entertainment industry that are currently registered with the NSITF for the purpose of contributing to the ECS is negligible when compared to the number of employers in the industry. Similarly, even with the paltry number of employers that have endeavored to register for the scheme, only a few make regular contributions despite the growth in the industry.
Unfortunately, there have been reports of accidents, deformity and sometimes death in the industry as a result of ignorance, negligence, compromise on safety etc. on the part of set managers and by extension, employers. It is inevitable that such mishaps would occur in the workplace, however, with no sufficient safety measures and insurance cover for these employees, it becomes extremely difficult for employers to provide adequate compensation and care for the affected individuals on their own.
Given the recent drive by the government, through its agencies, to generate revenue through taxes and levies, the NSITF should be more proactive in enforcing the provisions of the ECA by increasing its tax net to capture employers in the entertainment industry that continues to carry on their business but currently do not contribute to the scheme. The NSITF should also enforce compliance for employers that participate inconsistently in the scheme.
Conclusion
The entertainment industry has become an important space for fostering togetherness of the masses, creating a social identity for Nigeria, contributing to the growth of tourism, showcasing our rich culture to the world, and positively impacting the Nigerian economy by extension.
Employees are vital to the sustenance of the industry and its benefits to Nigeria while emphasis on employee safety and an effective social insurance structure will go a long way to retaining the employees.
We have, therefore, stated some recommendations that should help address the issue of adequate compensation for work-related accidents in the industry:
- The NSITF should sensitise employers in that industry to place paramount importance on safety and enforce same in the workplace. In addition, stringent punitive measures can be introduced to employers who do not comply.
In the same vein, sensitisation programs can be provided to employees to educate them on their rights to safety in the workplace.
- Periodic unplanned visits to work locations/sets to determine the level of employer compliance and issue corresponding reports.
- The NSITF should provide some incentives to employers as a reward for compliance with the scheme and to improve participation for employers. This can be done through periodic audit/verification holidays for consistently compliant employers.
- The NSITF can develop a dedicated hotline for real-time responses to enquiries and complaints.
In conclusion, employers should engage the services of reputable consultants to enable them stay compliant with applicable legislations.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.