Monday, 9 December 2013

Vehicle insurance policies on NIA database hit 1.65m


Chuks Udo Okonta

About 1.65 million vehicle insurance policies have been uploaded to the industry's database, Inspen has learnt.

The Head, Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID), Mrs Bola Omole, disclosed this today Monday, at a seminar organised by the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) for journalists in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

She noted that though the uploaded policies is far below what is expected, as there are 11.5 million vehicles in the country, the NIID project which took-off in 2011 with 300,000 policies, has helped improved the profitability of underwriters.

Omole said the collaboration the association reached with security agencies, is really helping in the fight against fake insurance policies which is the bane of the industry.

She said the 25 mobile gadgets, given to the Ogun State Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO), to verify motor insurance papers in the state, have helped increased patronage in recent time.

She noted that the association is presently talking with Kwara State, adding that deployment of mobile devices to verify genuine policies in the state would commence.   

Director-General NIA Sunday Thomas, said the association is also discussing with the Lagos state government on deployment of the devices.

He noted that with the success achieved from the deployment of motor insurance data, the association; will kick-start the deployment of marine insurance by the first quarter of next year, followed by property and other classes of insurance. 

NIA said it decided to start deployment of the electronic devices with Abeokuta, because historically, insurance in the country is traceable to the city, adding that the state also is one of the states to first indicate interest in the project.

The industry’s database project which was conceived in 2010, to help develop robust information on insured vehicles, was launch on June 26, 2012. The NIA at the launch promised to deploy electronic card readers to security agencies across the nation to verify genuine vehicle insurance licenses.

The project according to NIA would eradicate fake insurances and minimise instances of fraudulent claims provide real time information that would address issues raised by all stakeholders: insuring public, market players, law enforcement agents and regulators. Serve as source of historical data for analysis and benchmarking, thereby providing qualitative analysis of industry performance.

It is believed that the initiative will enhance transparency and accountability to its stakeholders thereby restoring confidence in the insuring public, creates the basis for scientific management of operations in the industry and it will enable the tracking of transactions in the industry. 

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