NAICOM Seeks NGF Collaboration in Deepening Insurance Penetration

Ebere Nwoji

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), has sought for cooperation of Nigerian Governors’ Forum  (NGF) in deepening insurance penetration across the country.

The commission stated this when the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Ayo Omosehin paid a courtesy visit to the Director General of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Dr. Abdulateef Shittu at the NGF Secretariat in Abuja.

He stated that the key reason the commission made the visit was to discuss how a coordinated approach could be adopted in working with the states and that the collaboration must start from engaging the NGF Secretariat as policy hub for the state governors. 

He said having been appointed recently, few months back, him and his team were trying to see how they could address some of the issues differently from the way they have been handled in the past in order to achieve a better result. 

He said the commission has chosen to start with the NGF, where NAICOM could have an engagement with the secretariat and share ideas.

The NGF Director General said his office has been transformed into a policy hub for the state governors and is serving as the technical and administrative arm of the Forum. He stated that the forum consist of the 36 state Governors in the federation while the secretariat was the administrative arm and a resource center for the forum that renders services and policy formulation.

According to him, the NGF Secretariat is a one-stop shop for any business you want to do with the states.

Speaking further, Omosehin thanked Shittu for the warm welcome and briefed the secretariat on the core mandate of the National Insurance Commission which is supervising, regulating and developing the insurance sector in Nigeria and by so doing it involves how the culture of insurance can be deepened by getting the Nation as a whole to comply with some of the compulsory Insurances as provided in the Law. 

He noted that at the federal level these have been 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 and that the collaboration must start from engaging the NGF Secretariat as policy hub for the state Governors.

Omosehin said having been appointed recently, few months back, him 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 mentioned that the commission chose to start with the NGF, where NAICOM could have an engagement with the secretariat and share ideas.

He stated the need for most of the Laws on compulsory insurances to be domesticated by the states sighting example with Lagos State.

Omosehin e said that the fragmented approach in dealing with the states needed to be centralised and have all the states come on board especially with respect to motor third insurance and also to prevent revenue loss for the states in terms of internally generated revenue (IGR). 

He further said there was also need for awareness creation across the states on the value of insurance

Shittu thanked the Omosehin and express optimism that the now that the Commission has reached out, he believed that the partnership can bring a lot of positivity on deepen insurance penetration in the country. 

 The NGF Secretariat and NAICOM agreed that a concept note should be submitted for their review and since a delivery room assessment has already been conducted, the ball should be kicked to start rolling immediately and a joint Committee was set to deliver on the assignment at hand.