Chuks Udo Okonta
A new insurance based cooperative society, TPL Cooperative
Insurance Society Limited, has called for the development of comprehensive
framework for protecting the interest of policyholders, particularly the
beneficiaries of online insurance contracts.
The Programme Manager of the NGO, Godson Ibekwe-Umelo, disclosed
this at the launched of the organisation in Abuja on Wednesday, May 14 at Rita
Lori Hotel Limited, Garki-Abuja.
A statement by the organisation said the launching attracted a
wide range of stakeholders which includes National Insurance Commission
(NAICOM), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN)
Association of Registered Insurance Agents of Nigeria (ARIAN), the Civil
Society Organisations (CSOs), among others.
TPL Cooperative Insurance Society Ltd. was facilitated by
Transparent Protection Ltd./Gte, a rights-based nongovernmental organisation
working to promote insurance culture in Nigeria through awareness creation and
transparency.
Ibekwe-Umelo bemoaned the poor state of the insurance development
in Nigeria in spite the reforms and huge population advantage. This trend he
said is disturbing and must be reversed as early as possible.
He stated that TPL Cooperative Insurance Society is set up to
promote insurance awareness among its members, and called on stakeholders to
join hands with TPL to facilitate similar cooperatives to help take insurance
to the grassroots. He added that the society will offer to members all kinds of
insurance products except compulsory insurances.
He said: “While many insurance operators are already selling
insurance leveraging on the platform of some mobile telecommunication service
(MTS) providers, there seem to be plan by some groups to launch similar
partnership with National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in relation to
community health insurance.”
He noted that the regulators are yet to fashion out comprehensive
regulatory frameworks for online insurance and therefore called on NAICOM and
National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to move quickly to introduce rules for
online insurance and also to forge workable strategic relationships with NCC
for policyholders’ protection.
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