NCRIB urges government to cancel licence renewal charges 

The National Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), has called on the Federal Government to stop its agencies from collecting fees for licence renewal from its members.  

President of NCRIB, Mrs Bola Onigbogi, made the plea in Abuja, during her investiture as the 20th President of the Council. Onigbogi said such charges is unfriendly, and not in tandem with the ease of doing business policy of the present administration. She said: “One of the challenges of the sector is the issue of government institutions and parastatals requesting for prohibitive non-refundable bidding fees from brokers. We must know that insurance brokers are not contractors but professional service providers like doctors and lawyers, who only offer services. Asking them to pay huge bidding fees is inappropriate. If at all, the fees should be marginal.

“Another issue is government agencies charging fees to recertify documents issued by them to brokers such as licences, certificates of incorporation, tax payers and so on. This is purely inimical, and at crossroad with the ease of doing business intention of President Buhari’s administration,” she stated. Onigbogi, who is the second female president of the Council, appealed to the Federal Government being the biggest spender and buyer of insurance, to always release payment for premiums already budgeted for.  

This, she said, would help in motivating and growing the industry, and by extension national economy. Also speaking, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said lack of adherence to insurance practice is making it difficult for government to achieve its objectives for the sector.

Represented by the Special Adviser on Infrastructure, Ahmed Zakari, the vice president urged brokers to  collaborate with the government to mitigate risks associated with investments in the industry. He described Onigbogi as an astute academic, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, who has consistently given back to the society, assuring that the Council is in a good hands going by her competence.

Deputy Chairman, House Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Judiciary, Omowunmi Ogunlola, said the insurance industry is bedevilled with image problems and poor public awareness. Ogunlola, who delivered the investiture lecture titled: “Building Image, Sustaining legacies,” decried that Nigerians have poor understanding of roles of insurance brokers, saying: “many potential clients often see Insurance brokers as people who want to complicate and confuse them in the already complex arrangement.” 

She tasked the newly-elected president to build a more acceptable image for the Council, as a reputation professional institution playing catalytic roles in the nation’s financial ecosystem.