…NAICOM Portal Will Solve Poor Insurance Penetration, Others – Commissioner For Insurance
By LOVETH AZODO, Lagos
The Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning, Mrs. (Dr.) Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed has urged the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM to ensure that its portal is connected to government databases in order to provide value added services to all Insurance Industry stakeholders and enhance revenue generation.
This is just as the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas assured that the efficient deployment of the portal will address poor Insurance penetration, public trust and confidence in insurance and inadequate real time statistical data of the insurance industry.
The minister who stated this at the commissioning of NAICOM’s portal Today in Abuja called for the need for cooperation with other agencies of government to enforce compulsory insurances in the country.
According to her, the Portal must also serve as the central database and sole repository of all Insurance Data connected to government databases in the country.
She said that the commissioning of the Portal should serve as a springboard for industry wide adoption of technology and innovation for efficient and effective service delivery, ease of transacting business and customer experience and satisfaction.
“Dwindling Government revenue profile demands that the Commission must look into ways of increasing its revenue through the use of technology and the Portal in particular. I urge the Commission to ensure the Portal is connected to other government databases like the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) NIN Database, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Passport Database, Nigeria Integrated Customs Information system, FRSC’s National Vehicle Identification System, the National Vehicle Registry, State Licensing Databases among others in order to provide value added services to all Insurance Industry stakeholders and enhance revenue generation.”
On claims settlement, she opined that the unsatisfactory response to settlement of claims by underwriters had greatly contributed to the prevailing poor public perception and lack of trust and confidence in the insurance Industry.
She urged the commission to put in place mechanisms to ensure Insurance companies meet their obligations to policyholders by paying claims promptly.
“Indeed, prompt claims payment is the best advertisement for the industry, therefore all genuine claims that have been duly verified and due process followed, should be paid promptly,” she said.
She lamented on the low Insurance penetration in the nation, she said “the current Insurance Penetration, a measure of the contribution of Insurance to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 0.88 for 2021 is very low. This indicates a low Insurance sector development contribution to the National Economy”
“However, this also shows that there are abounding opportunities for growth in the market. There is a need therefore, to develop new innovative products based on data and customer preferences and introduction of new channels of distribution”
She commended the Commission for the being in forefront of the digital transformation of the industry and developing guidelines for Web Aggregators and Regulatory Sandbox, introduction of BIMA Lab Insurtech Accelerator Program.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas in his optimism stated that with the completion of the portal there will be process efficiency and faster processing time as applications and supporting documents are submitted online, applicant’s account is updated with the status of the application as it progresses and there is effective Real-time communication between NAICOM and the applicant.
He revealed that the Portal also provides a Platform for interconnectivity by all industry stakeholders to support real-time aggregation of data on policies at the time of underwriting and policy issuance adding that each policy will be issued with a unique policy ID that will be associated with the policy for the life time of the policy.
According to him, the portal is made up of the Policy System, Licensing System, Complaints Management System, Regulatory Returns and Financial Analysis.
“Honourable Minister, it is expected that the challenges of poor insurance penetration, public trust and confidence in insurance, and inadequate real time statistical data of the insurance industry will be resolved through the efficient deployment of the portal. Also the direct interface with the Industry provided by the portal will ensure greater accountability and transparency. The digital Platform will provide a single point of Contact between NAICOM and the Insurance Industry,” he said.
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