NAICOM, NIA yet to begin deliberations on database projects

Commissioner for Insurance Fola Daniel

Chuks Udo Okonta

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) are yet to initiate talks on how to collaborate and harmonise their different database projects, Inspen can report.

 The commission had disclosed that it is coming up with an industry wide database project that is similar to the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) presently propelled by underwriters.

Though, the commission promised to collaborate with the NIA, it was gathered that such move is yet to be initiated.

Director-General NIA, Sunday Thomas, in a telephone interview, said he does not have details of what the commission is doing, but pledged that the association will collaborate with the commission on the project.

He said: “I do not have details of what NAICOM is doing, whatever they are doing will be complementary to what NIA is doing, they are meant to complement each other, we cannot run parallel programmes with the commission. We can at best complement each other.

“You can see how we have worked together on the complaint bureau. We do not run parallel programmes with the commission.

“We have not had any discussion with the commission concerning handing over the NIID to them.”     

Director Research Strategy and Information Technology NAICOM, Adamu Balanti, on the commission’s database project 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.”

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 the concept is not a duplication of the NIID being promoted by the NIA, stressing that the NIA would be 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.

Balanti said the portal will provide a single point of access for all NAICOM services, validates the authenticity of insurance policies and accessible from any location within Nigeria. He added that the system would interact or communicate with other systems/users such as FRSC, Police, and VIO.