To achieve the much-desired insurance penetration throughout the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive of the National Insurance Commission, Olusegun Ayo Omosehin, on Friday sought the partnership and cooperation of Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF).
Omosehin spoke during his visit to the Director General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Dr. Abdulateef Shittu at the NGF Secretariat in Abuja.
The Director General while welcoming the Management of NAICOM said the NGF has transformed into a policy hub for the 36 state Governors, adding that the group was serving as the Technical and administrative arm of the Forum.
Shittu said the Forum consists of the 36 state Governors in the Federation, while the Secretariat is the administrative arm and a resource centre for the Forum that renders services and policy formulation.
The NGF Secretariat, be said, was a one-stop shop for any business one wanted to do with the states.
The CFI thanked the DG for the reception and briefed the Secretariat on the core mandate of the National Insurance Commission – to supervise, regulate and develop the Insurance sector in Nigeria and by so doing strengthen how the culture of insurance could be deepened by getting the nation as a whole to comply with some of the compulsory Insurance policies as provided in the law. He noted that at the Federal level these was being driven by Federal agencies, but at the states level the Commission needs some high level of cooperation and collaboration.
He stated that the key reason the Commission was at the NGF secretariat was to discuss how a coordinated approach could be adopted in working with the states, adding that the collaboration must start from engaging the NGF Secretariat as policy hub for the state Governors.
He said having been appointed recently as the Cmmissioner for Insurance, he and his team are trying to see how they can address some of the issues differently from the way it has been handled in the past in order to achieve a better result.
He pointed out that the Commission choosed to start with the NGF, where NAICOM could have an engagement with the secretariat and share ideas.
The CFI further stated the need for most of the Laws on compulsory insurance policies to be domesticated by the states, citing the example of Lagos State.
He said the fragmented approach in dealing with the states needed to be centralized and have all the states come on board, especially with respect to motor third insurance, to prevent revenue loss for the states in terms of internally generated revenue (IGR).
“There is also need for awareness creation across the states on the value of insurance,” the CFI said.
The Director General who thanked the CFI for the visit expressed optimism that now that the Commission reached out, he believed the partnership could bring a lot of positivity on deepenng insurance penetration in the country.
The NGF Secretariat and NAICOM agreed that a concept note should be submitted for their review, adding that since a delivery room assessment has already been conducted, the ball shall be kicked to start rolling immediately and a joint Committee was set to deliver on the assignment at hand.
