Yemisi Izuora
The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) said it is fully committed to give a boost to the insurance industry through implementation of its three-year transformation agenda.
The regulator acknowledged that a buoyant insurance sector would result to greater contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product and lead to a robust economy for Nigeria.
Assistant Director, Corporate Affairs, NAICOM, Mr. Salami Rassaq who raised the hope of the industry with the promise said with the support of the Federal Government, the commission would achieve its planned goal.
According to him, “There is no contractor today in this country that can do any contract without having a tax clearance, without the office asking for a certificate of compliance to NAICOM Act. When this is implemented, it will generate a lot of premium for the industry and we are hoping this will take effect from this year as already promised by the CME.”
As part of plan to grow the industry, he stressed that the commission has set up an internal committee to ensure that the commission achieves its transformation agenda.
Members of the committee, he said, were drawn across strategic directorates and units of the commission. He said the mandate of the committee was to ensure that the commission maintained ownership of the agreed initiative.
The committee will ensure that all stakeholders performed their assigned responsibilities and also deliberate and make input on how the agenda would be achieved, he noted.
He said that the committee, which was inaugurated by commissioner for insurance, Fola Daniel, would be headed by Mohammed Kari, the NAICOM deputy commissioner, technical.
Rasaaq added : “The internal committee was set up to ensure that there is effectiveness and that all the aspirations and plans on the transformation agenda were achieved by the industry. Apart from monitoring, they will make input and deliberations of both the subcommittee and the steering committee. They will also ensure that whatever goal assigned to NAICOM in the next three years is done in a seamless manner efficiently and effectively.”
The three-year transformation agenda was proposed to triple the size of the insurance industry. It is expected that in the next three years, the gross written premium of the industry will rise from 300 billion to one trillion.
The number of policy holders is expected to increase from the current number of three million people to 10 million in the next three years. Also, the number of people employed in the industry is expected to move from the current position of 30,000 to 100,000 in the next three years.