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| Balanti |
Chuks Udo
Okonta
The National Insurance
Commission (NAICOM) is developing a platform that would kick-start the issuing of
unique identification number to all insurance policyholders in the country.
Its Director Research Strategy and Information Technology, Adamu Balanti, told Inspen that the unique policy identification system is to monitor and account for all
policies issued.
He noted that the system will
reduce to the barest minimum the prevalence of improper records regarding
policies issued, adding that with the system, NAICOM will be able to track the
activities and revenues being made by insurance companies and brokers.
He said: “This system is to build an integration point for the various
stakeholders involved in insurance policy issuance. Generate and provide a
unique identification number for every policy issued, in order to track and
provide relevant statistics on them.
“It would help develop a capacity in NAICOM to record all policies
issued by Nigerian insurance companies. Ensure proper accountability of all
premium returns by insurance companies, capture all businesses done by every
broker through the underwriter, ensure proper accountability of all insurance
levies received from brokers, provide easy access to data regarding policies
issued and support analysis and policy based decision making.”
Balanti said the portal provides a single point of
access for all NAICOM services, validate
the authenticity of insurance policies and accessible from any location within
Nigeria. He added that the system should be able to interact or communicate
with other systems/users such as FRSC, Police, and VIO.
“We want to
identify each individual insurance policy issued in the country; this is why we
are developing, what we called - Unique Policy Identifier (UPI). With it, each insurance policy document issue
in the country will have a unique identification number. The Unique number will
be used to identify that document.
“We are also
developing a database of that identification number, so that anybody in the
country can query the database to confirm if the policy document before him or
her is genuine or not. We are hoping that in the next few years, we will get it
out,” he added.
He noted
that the initiative cuts across all insurance product lines, adding that all
policies procured by the public must have this unique number.
He said the
concept is not a duplication of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID)
being promoted by the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), stressing that the
NIA is collaborating with NAICOM on the project.
“We would
not allow a situation where a section of the industry has made a huge
investment on a project; we come up with something to stop it. We would collaborate
with them to solve the problem of fake insurance which is giving the industry a
bad image,” he added.
He noted
that the number will be issued from a central place, adding that NAICOM is moving
to a situation where its information and telecommunications, will continue to
interface with those of the operators. So, that as the operators issue policies,
their systems interact with that of the commission seamlessly.
He said the
commission is developing an information and technology policy for the industry
that would put the operators on the page with the commission.
“That
document would ensure that we have a minimum standard for everybody. In fact,
the draft for the policy has been done, every soon, we would form industry committee
that would look at that, harmonise it and take input to produce the final copy,”
he said.
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