More than 10 years after the introduction of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) by the Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA), insurers are yet to capture vehicles plying the roads for the minimum third party motor insurance requirement by law, findings by The Nation has shown.
Of the 14 million vehicles on the roads, only 3.5 million are captured on the NIID as genuinely insured.
Third party motor insurance policy is one of the compulsory insurance in Nigeria. It is the minimum motor insurance cover any motor vehicle owner.
The insurance law provides that a person who fail to have this minimum requirement commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N250, 000 or imprisonment for one year or both.
The policy takes care of the damage caused by the insured to the third party’s property or vehicle, also the Third Party’s medical expenses if any, in the event of an accident, when the policyholder is at fault.
Meanwhile, NIA, the umbrella body of insurance companies in the industry, created NIID in 2010 to eliminate fake insurance certificates in the market.
The database went live in 2011 so that insurance policies obtained by motorists could be checked real time online on the internet and through dedicated hand-held devices.
But cloning and faking of insurance certificates has continued to thrive despite the establishment of the database.
The NIA, in its 2021 Annual Report & Accounts, stated that efforts were on-going to increase the number of insured vehicles, via public enlightenment campaigns and collaboration with states’agencies for enforcement of the minimum third party motor insurance requirement by law.
The insurers said the NIID is integrated with Federal and some states motor vehicle administration platforms across Nigeria for real-time verification and enforcement of motor vehicle insurance.
On marine module on the NIID, the insurers said over half a million marine policies have been uploaded in its third year of implementation.
NIA said there had been seamless integration to the Nigeria Single Window Trade Portal and it has gained the acceptance of importers and other stakeholders in the processing of importation documents via online real time data sharing between the NIID and the trade portal.
On how the sector fared last year, NIA said the volume of business written by member companies grew from N508 billion in 2020 to about N560 billion in 2021, representing an increase of 10 per cent.
NIA said: “The insurance industry was not insulated from developments in the economic space and had its fair share of the challenges facing the larger financial market during the year under review.
“With epileptic power supply and an astronomic rise in the energy cost against the background of failing infrastructure, insurance companies had to contend with increasing cost of operations. These and other factors, including the multiplicity of taxes, contributed to affect the bottom line of insurance companies.
“Notwithstanding these challenges, the insurance industry continues to perform its statutory role of financial intermediation and business restoration.The volume of business written by member companies grew from N508 billion in 2020 to about N560 billion in 2021, representing an increase of 10 per cent.”
On industry recapitalisation, the insurers said: “The insurance industry recapitalisation, which was incepted by the National Insurance Commission in May 2019, remains unresolved due to the court cases initiated by some concerned parties.
“Although the association is not a party to the lawsuit, it is our expectation that the cases will be expeditiously dispensed with.
“We are also concerned about the uncertainty the delays have created especially amongst our critical stakeholders and we appeal to the litigants to sheathe their sword so that whatever the issues in contention are can be resolved through constructive engagement for a swift end to the matter in the interest of the insuring public and stakeholders.
