Only 2.5 million vehicles have valid insurance - NIA

By Sola Alabadan

Out of the more than 12.5 million vehicles registered in Nigeria, only 2.5 million currently have genuine insurance cover.

The 2.5 million figure is the total number of insured vehicles captured in the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) up till today, the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) disclosed at its annual general meeting in Lagos.

As insurers continue to lose billions of naira from motor insurance to fake insurers, analysts say such a development has been contributing to the stunted growth of the nation's insurance industry and preventing it from making meaningful contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

NIA Chairman, Remi Olowude, also said all the 60 insurance companies operating in the country generated a premium income of N285 billion in 2013 and that this was in spite of the fact that the industry had targeted a premium income of N1 trillion as far as 2012.

It also implies that majority of the motorists in the country have been violating Section 68 of Insurance Act 2003 compelling all motorists to have insurance cover before putting their vehicles on the road.

The section states that, "No person shall use or cause or permit any other person to use a motor vehicle on the road unless a liability, which he may thereby incur in respect of damage to the property of third parties, is insured with an insurer registered under this Act".

The NIID, an initiative of the NIA, officially launched in June 2012, is an information technology-based system to facilitate easy collation and dissemination of statistical and other information relating to insurance while helping to check activities of fake documents.

With a mobile device, a product of the NIID, it is now easy for law enforcement agencies and relevant authorised persons to identify genuine insurance documents.

Once a motor insurance policy has been arranged by a licensed insurance company, the NIA assured that the details of such an insurance policy will be reflected on the website within 24 hours.

Source Daily Independent