Controversy Trails Selection of Lead Insurance Broker to Underwrite NNPC Business

Ebere Nwoji

Controversy has continued to trail    the selection of brokerage firm that  will lead insurance underwriters for  NNPC Limited  business  this year. Selection for 2024 NNPC insurance programme, which commenced towards the end of 2023, saw the emergence of what leaders in the brokerage market termed an unpopular brokerage firm   named Zebra Insurance Brokers as the leader in the business.

Against this backdrop, the selection process has been described as non-transparent while the emergence of the leader is also alleged to be shrouded in mystery.

 A cross-section of insurers and insurance brokers who participated in the process  is alarmed at the emergence of Zebra Insurance Brokers as the leader of the non-oil section of the insurance programme. 

They said the company did not merit the position.  

“The annual bid process ritual of NNPC Limited has always been shrouded in mystery but the 2024 exercise is a calamitous outing,” the brokers stated..

The NNPC insurance management team is currently led by those  whom the participants in the process described as not being experienced and qualified to supervise the process of selecting the insurers and brokers for the 2024 programme.

The brokers alleged that what happened in the selection process  is what you get when an ineffective and an inefficient non-insurance practitioner assumes the position of authority that they do not merit.

They alleged that NNPC Limited  has become a laughing stock in the insurance industry for pretending to be running a free, fair and transparent process whereas the process is a negotiated transaction under the supervision of the leadership. 

“How can anyone explain or justify the emergence of Zebra Insurance Brokers as a leader of the Non-Oil Insurance programme above all the most capitalised and experienced companies in Nigeria,” stated one of the participants.

Although Zebra Insurance Brokers was incorporated in 1992, they argued that it has no record of leading any other significant business both in the private and public sectors of the economy. 

Zebra is allegedly only known to parade itself to some insurance companies as a  deal maker  with track record of  return premium, rate-cutting and negotiating non-payment of claims to insureds after premium must have been paid. 

They alleged that  the firm  is notorious for most of the widely criticised vices in the insurance industry, accusing the managers of contacting the leadership of various insurance companies and brokers on the 2024 NNPC programme, striking deals on how much to be refunded to the Head of Risk Management and Insurance and the Chief Non-Energy Investment Officer of NNPC Ltd.

The major concern of the insurance industry is that NNPC Limited  should not cause the industry to spend huge amounts of money to put together bid documents (some of which are ridiculously unnecessary) including payment for what NNPC Limited tagged bidding fee.