By Sule Musa

Describing the National Social Security and Insurance Trust milestones and achievements could prove intimidating for a writer, especially as it poses the difficult choices of prioritising the weight of relevance and impacts of the many and different such footprints scattered across the length and breadth of the country of Sierra Leone.

Nothing pays better eloquent testimony to this than the assertion by President Julius Maada Bio, while recently commissioning the magnificent Sewa grounds Market, that NASSIT “has not only succeeded in its core function of providing social protection for our people against social and economic risks, but has in its strides contributed (immensely) to national development.”

First of its kind in the country, the Sewa Grounds Market is a one-stop market centre with 2,067 stalls of different sizes and descriptions, that has 24-hour electricity, water supply, a clinic, police post, fire force and toilet facilities among others – designed to provide comfort for the thousands of traders, including other members of the public.

Nevertheless, the market could only be the latest of similar investments in the estate sector undertaken by the Trust.

Equally huge in size and socio-economic narratives (when the ongoing reconstruction is completed) is the Cape Sierra Hilton Hotel at Aberdeen, Freetown, situated on an eighteen-acre land with the first phase of the two phases delivering an ultra-modern hotel of two hundred rooms. The second phase will develop a villa, an apartment block and office spaces.

Existing and flourishing NASSIT investments in tourism and the hospitality industries count the singular 5-Star hotel in the country, the Radisson Blu-Mammy Yoko Hotel at Aberdeen, Freetown, with a commanding lead of the industry in capacity, size, scenery and grandeur rolled into one enviable profile.

There is also in that vicinity the Freetown International Conference Centre, which has, for several years running, served with distinction as the first point of call for hosting high-profile events and conferences of local and international participation.