From Uche Usim, Abuja
The Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr Olorundare Sunday Thomas, has described deepening insurance education and ensuring prompt insurance claims payments by operators as its main priorities in the urgent task of building a strong economy.
Thomas made the disclosure in Lagos at a seminar for insurance journalists over the weekend themed: “The Future of the Nigerian Insurance Sector in a Shifting Landscape”.
According to him, insurance education remains a very critical issue, especially now that a lot of states, especially in the north, were outside the insurance net.
“So, we want to spread insurance education all over the country. We visited Katsina twice. On our first visit, the Governor was sincere that he was hearing insurance takaful for the very first time.
“On our second visit, we had a fuller engagement involving the grand khadi, emirs and all the rest of the influencers and we taught the gathering about takaful. They researched about it and showed them where the takaful was talked about in Quran.
Katsina has included insurance for their property in the 2023 budget.
That is the way to go.
“We will visit all the states of the country because the insurance business is an integral part of the economy,” he noted.
The NAICOM CEO also raised concerns about those holding active positions in insurance firms that are unknown to the Commission; thus distorting the smooth running of the ecosystem by attempting to impeach the integrity of the insurance industry.
“Anybody that is not known to the Commission and is participating in a critical role in any of the insurance companies will be banned from participating in the insurance sector henceforth. We will make sure that the person does not participate in the insurance business in this country anymore,” he said.
On delayed claims settlement, Thomas assured that NAICOM as a regulator would not rest on its oars to ensure the industry remains healthy and attractive to those outside the insurance net.
He said that NAICOM would continue to apply strategic approaches to ensure all stakeholders are happy and progressive.
“If the regulator, NAICOM, should deploy all the powers it has, we will have no company to regulate. We have a technical section in the Commission that sees to claim settlement. We have agreed to give companies a window within which to pay and we can assure that we will follow through,” he said.
“What we are following now is that between now and the first week in April next year, outstanding claims must be paid.
“We have told the operators that they must publish names of subscribers not coming forward with documents to make their claims. Anyone going to publish must be sure it has sufficient liquidity to pay up as there will be huge demands made on them,” he explained.