ECOWAS’ New Brown Cards To Tackle Faking

NIA-Logo in its efforts at
eradicating fake ECOWAS Brown Cards, the sub-regional Secretariat in Lome, Togo has standardized the operations of the scheme with the design of a new consensual brown card to be implemented from January 1, 2015.
A meeting of the scheme  in the Togolese capital  recently took critical look at the operation of the scheme and adopted measures to streamline the effective operation of the system in member countries.
According to the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA)  2013-2014 yearly report,  the scheme is modeled after the Green Card scheme in Europe, Pink Card in Central African sub-region and yellow card scheme in the Arab countries sub-region.
The report explained that in order to reduce the time for claims processing, an on line claims management software is being designed by the secretariat.
Some of the challenges confronting the ECOWAS Brown Card scheme, the report said, include the need to review the Brown Card protocol in line with current realities.
Besides, the National Bureau has continued to face challenges in Cross Border Claims Management, including delay in claims payment, issues with the police formation of some member countries, and inability to get motorists released especially in cases involving loss of life.
According to sources at NIA, “The major challenge facing the brown card system is that of fake holders, we have more fake brown cards in the system than the genuine ones. When we say that, we speak in terms of the Nigerian experience, because we have found that the way the Brown Card is treated varies from country to country  within the sub-region. There are countries once you buy  comprehensive insurance or third party, automatically they sell the Brown Card to you, so that everybody  who get a certificate of insurance gets the Brown Card too, whether you want to travel or not.
“But in Nigeria, we do not sell unless you need it, that is only when you want to travel outside Nigeria that you come to buy the Brown Card, but unlike the ordinary motor certificate, which is not checked whether you want to take your vehicle across the frontiers, the Brown Card is part of the documents that they will check.”
Besides, most people do not know about the Brown Card until they get to the borders and they are so many touts  around the borders that sell fake ECOWAS Brown Card to them to continue their journey.
Another challenge, the source said, is that of language barrier, adding, “the language barrier has not really enhance the issue of ECOWAS Brown Card, equally, we have had problems with the law enforcement agencies, even in Nigeria, when somebody comes from another country and is involved in an accident, despite  our intervention from Nigerian National Bureau and explained  the procedures and all that sometimes, the law enforcement agents do not co-operate with us they will insist on the foreigner paying before they release vehicles.
“These are the challenges we have had to face. Most Nigerians who are affluent and insure their cars properly don’t really like to travel by road, most Nigerian companies have not paid attention to it and it is only when your major client wants to travel, they come to you and we sell this document for them, but the vast majority of those who travel along the road regularly are those who patronize these touts for their third party certificates”.