Yemisi Izuora
The Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA, is trying to resolve technical hitches encountered by the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID), a platform it unveiled six years ago to capture genuine insurance policies in the country.
The Platform has so far issued over eight million motor insurance certificates but some challenges arose in an attempt by the association to extend its coverage to more states. NIA blamed failure on network coverage and Internet connectivity challenges.
NIA chairman Eddie Efekoha said that the association would solve the problems through the deployment of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code.
Efekoha also disclosed that the marine module had been running and member-companies were uploading on the platform, adding that at the end of last May, 33 member-companies had uploaded 65,000 marine policies into it.
He called on members to continue to upload their policies, adding that plans were afoot to bring other stakeholders in.
He disclosed that the industry’s estimated volume of business underwritten rose to N380 billion in 2016 as against N311 billion.
Efekoha said the price of crude oil, epileptic power supply, inflation, internal conflicts between herdsmen and farmers; a near comatose economy and the prolonged recession had serious consequences on the operations of insurance companies.
He said the association was working on the establishment of a common platform for the sale of third party motor insurance policies.
According to him, The estimated volume of business underwritten by the industry in 2016 was estimated at N380 billion as against N311 billion underwritten in 2015. The price of crude oil, epileptic power supply, cut throat inflation, internal conflicts between herdsmen and farmers a near comatose economy and the prolonged recession had serious consequences on the operations of insurance companies.
In spite of the challenges posed by the economy, the suspension of the Federal Reporting Council Code of Corporate Governance, implementation and improved compliance with no premium no cover, especially by the federal parastatals and ministries’ departments and agencies, the improved Anti-Money Laundering mechanism, full implementation of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS), improved enforcement of the compulsory insurances, renewed vigour by the government to improve the Ease of Doing Business and other efforts, the industry has continued to be the preferred investment destination for reputable players in the global insurance.
He said the platform was demonstrated at the last association’s retreat for chief executive officers of member-companies last March, adding that the association and the service provider would ensure that all the issues raised at the presentation were addressed and NSICOM’s buy-in was obtained before the proposed launch date of July 1.
Also, NIA, Acting Director-General, Mrs Lawunmi Idowu, said the NIID has been hitch-free in the last 12 months.
She said the motor module has changed the face of insurance in the country as incidences of fake motor insurance certificates have reduced.
“The system features are constantly being enhanced to meet user’s requirements and expectations,’’ she said, stressing that in the period under review, more features, such as upload of short-term policies, SMS alert of claims upload, the mobile app of ask NIID and enhanced reporting facility were added.
She said the marine module is being embraced by member-companies pending its full utilisation by relevant agencies.
“In years to come, the association’s expectation is that the NIID platform will fully integrate with all government agencies portals for real-time verification and thereby become an indispensable tool in carrying out their statutory functions and process,’’ Mrs Idowu added.