NAICOM, NGF partner to domesticate compulsory insurance, boost penetration
Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr. Olusegun Omosehin is partnering with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to domesticate the laws of compulsory insurance and deepen insurance penetration.
The Commissioner sought the partnership when he led a delegation on a visit to the Director General of the Forum, Dr. Abdulateef Shittu in Abuja recently.
The Director General, while welcoming the management of NAICOM, informed them that the NGF has transformed into a policy hub for the state Governors and is serving as the Technical and administrative arm of the Forum.
He stated that the Forum consists of the 36 state Governors in the Federation while the Secretariat is the administrative arm and a resource center for the Forum that renders services and policy formulation. “The NGF Secretariat is a one-stop shop for any business you want to do with the states” he affirmed.
In response, the Commissioner of Insurance briefed the NGF on the core mandate of the National Insurance Commission which is supervising, regulating and developing the Insurance sector in Nigeria, and by so doing, it involves how the culture of insurance can be deepened by getting the Nation as a whole to comply with some of the compulsory Insurances as provided in our Law.
Omosehin noted that at the Federal level, insurance culture is driven by Federal agencies; at the states level, the Commission needs some high level of cooperation and collaboration.
He stated that the key reason the Commission was at the NGF secretariat is to discuss how a coordinated approach can be adopted in working with the states and that the collaboration must start from engaging the NGF Secretariat as policy hub for the state Governors.
“Having been appointed recently, a few months back, we are trying to see how we can address some of the issues differently from the way it has been handled in the past in order to achieve a better result. The Commission chose to start with the NGF, where NAICOM could have an engagement with the secretariat and share ideas”
The CFI further stated the need for most of the Laws on compulsory insurance to be domesticated by the states citing example with Lagos State. He said that the fragmented approach in dealing with the states needs to be centralized and have all the states come on board especially with respect to motor third insurance and also to prevent revenue loss for the states in terms of IGR. “There is also a need for awareness creation across the states on the value of insurance” he added.
Reacting, Dr. Shittu expressed optimism over the Commission’s move, believing that the partnership would be fruitful particularly in deepening insurance penetration in the country.
The NGF Secretariat and NAICOM agreed that a concept note should be submitted for their review and since a delivery room assessment has already been conducted, the ball shall be kicked to start rolling immediately and a joint committee was set to deliver on the assignment at hand.
