MDRI: NAICOM Adopts New Strategy

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Nnamdi Duru with agency report
The insurance regulatory body, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), may have adopted a new strategy to further the Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI) states Inspen, an online medium with focus on insurance and pension.

The initiative, which was introduced by the commission over three years ago, is meant to deepen insurance penetration and raise the level of contribution of the insurance sub-sector to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) among other things.

A source at the commission said the new campaign strategy would enable the industry achieve the projections envisaged in the MDRI programme, adding that the strategy would help promote insurance and boost operators’ profitability.

He said the commission fine-tuned the strategies to ensure the set goals are achieved and that the industry reaps bountifully from the programme.

NAICOM initially projected that with MDRI the industry’s premium income would rise to N1trillion by the end of 2012 from N160 billion. The initiative is expected to help create about 50,000 fresh jobs through the Agency Network System.

The project according to the commission focuses on four key areas including enforcement of compulsory insurances, sanitisation and modernisation of the insurance agency system, wiping out of fake insurance institutions and introduction of risk-based supervision.

It is also expected that as fallout of the collaboration between the different government and self-regulatory authorities involved in the process, revenues would be generated for the Fire Service through the establishment of the Fire Service Maintenance Fund.

In addition, it is expected that the collaboration between the Police, Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Fire Service, Planning Authorities, and Council of Registered Engineers in Nigeria (COREN), Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Nigeria Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) and Association of Registered Insurance Agents of Nigeria (ARIAN) would make things better.

This collaboration is in the form of enforcement teams in all the 36 states of the federation charged with monitoring compliance with the compulsory insurances laws.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel, recently reaffirmed the commitment of the Nigerian insurance industry to grow its premium income from the present N300 billion to N1 trillion by 2017.

He said the country plans to more than triple the value of its insurance market in the next four, hinging his prediction on the improvement in the industry’s reputation in recent times.
“Our people don’t trust insurance,” he stressed.

“We’ve done a considerable amount of housekeeping to make sure the companies respect the rules,” Daniel added.

The value of insurance contracts in the country, according to him, should rise to about N1 trillion ($6.4 billion) in 2017, about 3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), from N300 billion now, or less than 1 per cent of GDP.
Penetration should increase to 22.50 per cent of the insurable population in four years from 10 per cent currently, Daniel added.