NAICOM tasks MDAs on insurance patronage

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has implored Federal Government’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to assist the industry to drive enforcement of compulsory insurances schemes in the country.

The Commissioner for Insurance, Sunday Thomas, at a sensitisation workshop for insurance desk officers of MDAs on the insurance of FG’s assets and liabilities in Abuja explained that it has become important to put in place measures to guide MDAs on insurance.

He stressed that the provision of Section 7 of the (NAICOM) Act 1997 stipulates that the commission shall ensure adequate protection of strategic government assets and other properties.

According to him, the section also provides that the commission shall act as adviser to FG on all insurance-related matters.

He said the Commission could only achieve its objective with the full cooperation of the MDAs.

Thomas stressed that it was worrisome that most assets and liabilities of government were not adequately insured, which further accentuated the need for urgent measures to ensure that government gets value for money in the purchase of insurance by MDAs.

According to him, NAICOM in 2009 launched the Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI) project to create awareness on compulsory insurance products, educate the public on the long-term benefits of.

“While NAICOM bore the responsibility of disseminating key messaging on the benefits of compulsory insurance, we relied on MDAs to help domesticate the initiative in their respective offices and, perhaps, serve as the primary vehicles for enforcement of compulsory insurances in their various MDAs,” he said.

Thomas said the sensitisation workshop was to equip the insurance desk officers with the necessary tools to ensure that all MDAs have adequate insurance coverage for all government assets and liabilities to curb losses.

He maintained that it was expected that insurance desk officers would have the capacity to gauge the insurance protection needs of government assets and provide their principals with technical counsel on the required insurance coverage.

“Building the capacity of insurance desk officers, enthroning transparency and accountability to ensure that the government gets value for money in the purchase of insurance thus taking us all a step further in contributing effectively to the economic growth and development of Nigeria is an ongoing project of the Commission,” he posited.