Reps to ensure proper insurance of government’s properties

Reps to ensure proper insurance of government’s properties

Chuks Udo Okonta

The House of Representatives would ensure that all Federal Government’s properties are properly insured to aimed insurance practice, its Chairman Committee on Finance Abdulmumin Jibrin, has said.

He disclosed this at a forum organised by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for members of the House Committee on Finance in Karu Nasarawa State. He noted the members would also support the development of insurance through strengthening of its laws, adding that appropaite attention would be giving to the insurance bill whenever it is presented to the House.

He said the committee would support NAICOM in realising all its plans and will leave no stone unturned at ensuring that all Federal government assets are insured. He however regretted the inability of members to comment on the content of the draft bill saying "it is yet to be presented to the National Assembly officially. We will therefore wait until it is formally presented to us for deliberations and passage to law. The good thing is that we are now aware of it and have a background on which we could build on."

Commissioner for Insurance Fola Daniel said the various initiatives and reforms being embarked upon by NAICOM is constrained by poor legal framework, poor public perception of the insurance, and low awareness amongst the populace.

 “To address the constrain occasioned by poor legal framework, in March 2009, the Honourable Minister of State for Finance inaugurated a committee to review all laws and regulations relevant to insurance in Nigeria under the chairmanship of Professor Joe Irukwu. The Committee had since submitted its report and a new insurance draft bill is presently being reviewed by the Federal Ministry of Finance. The draft bill is expected to be passed to the Federal Executive Council soon for onward presentation to the National Assembly," he said.

 Daniel noted that the review of existing insurance laws in the country became imperative specifically by the need, amongst others, for a robust legal and regulatory framework that will ensure that the Insurance sector contributes positively to the principal objective of the Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS 2020) to make Nigeria Africa’s financial hub and one of the twenty (20) largest economies in the world by the year 2020, to evolve effective risk based supervision, in the regulatory system as the existing rule based supervision, enabled by the current laws has become obsolete and therefore cannot drive the envisioned development of the sector. Others are the need to ensure ethical practice and international best practices as required by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), and the need for a legal and regulatory framework that allows the supervisory authority to deal promptly with issues evolving from the dynamism of the insurance business.