Business
‘Enforcement Of Compulsory Insurance Begins Sept’
Mr Adamu Balanti, Director, Research, Statistics and Information Technology, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) says the enforcement of compulsory insurances will begin in September.
In a statement in Lagos on Friday, Balanti said that the commission would no longer tolerate invalid documents as from September.
In the statement signed by Mr Lucky Fiakpa, NAICOM’s Assistant Director, Corporate Affairs, Balanti said the decision was taken after a meeting of the commission’s Market Development and Restructuring Initiatives (MDRI) Steering Committee in Lagos.
Balanti said NAICOM’s raid of licensing and vehicle inspection offices in Abuja showed that fake agents now used names of invalid companies to issue insurance certificates.
“The commission is now set for the enforcement of the compulsory insurance and it will begin in September.
“A good number of the fake insurance agents arrested during the Abuja raid were actually trading in the certificates of most of the existing companies.
“The raid would go beyond Abuja to other major cities across the country until the incidence of fake insurance agents is curtailed.
“Operators should assist the commission in its current efforts of ridding the industry of the activities of fake insurance operators,” Balanti said. Balanti also said that the meeting had strategised on how to implement and enforce five compulsory insurances.
He stressed that the enforcement team would be trained in every part of the country before the enforcement
exercise in September.
According to him, an operator should be alarmed when he finds out that someone is trading in its name without authorisation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the five compulsory insurances are Public and Private Buildings; Buildings under construction; Group Life; Workmen Compensation and Third Party Motor insurances.
The statement also quoted Mr Leo Akah, the Deputy Director, Authorisation and Policy as saying that NAICOM was doing all it could to encourage the agency system.
Akah said that part of the strategy was the reduction of the registration fee for agents from N15,000 to N1,000.
He said that NAICOM hoped that the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) would do the same to promote the agency business in the industry.