By Patience Saghana
National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has finally succeeded acquiring its own head office years after the commission’s head office had been housed in a rented building.

NAICOM recently bought a building of a two-storey building with two wings attached which is the perfect work environment the Commission had longed craved for  to continue its drive at repositioning the insurance industry in Nigeria.

Though Financial Vanguard could not ascertain the exact figure the commission expended on the new head office, it was however gathered that it ran into several millions of naira.

Arrangement is currently on-going to relocate staff of the Commission to the new head office situated at Samuel Ladoke Akintola Boulevard, Garki 2, Abuja on or before the end of year 2010.

The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Fola Daniel, who is the commission’s Chief Executive, in an interview with Vanguard not long ago said, “A regulatory environment is not a market place. It is a knowledge base environment and what we did in the recent past was to take stock of the entire regulatory environment.

“We went through a process of de-selection which affected some of our staff having to give up their seats in order for the Commissioner to reinvigorate the establishment through injection of fresh hands. And the process of injecting more hands in NAICOM is almost completed and very soon, we should be having more people.

“It is not the quantity of staff that ensures quality of service delivery. We used to have about 50 staff in the Lagos office, yet there were delays of all kind which meant we had quantity and not quality staff. We want quality staff so that insurance industry can fill the present of an environmentally friendly regulator. It is part of the reform agenda.”

When on August 1, 2007, he assumed office as  Commissioner for Insurance, insurance  practitioners were not too sure of his capabilities but were hopeful that government will give him the support to enable him succeed as the chief insurance industry regulator.

Mr. Fatai Lawal, Managing Director of Sterling Assurance Company, said that the appointment is a welcome development that the industry has been looking for to manage the changing dynamics of the reforms in the insurance market.

He said: “Mr. Daniel is a tested professional who understands the challenges in the industry and has the intellectual capacity to move things around. But my worry is that it is one thing to make the appointment but another thing to be given the necessary support to perform. I therefore think that the government that has appointed him should support him by giving him free hand to put his vision into the improvement of conduct and regulation of insurance practice in this country. I wish him all the best in his new assignment.”
Mr. Justus Uranta, Managing Director of Niger Insurance Plc in the same vein said: “He is an experienced and brilliant person who understands the market and the challenges arising from the recent consolidation exercise in the industry.

I hope that during his tenure the insurance industry will notice improvement in terms of regulation and practice in view of enormous expectations from stakeholders in the new insurance environment, position the industry to fly in the international arena beyond the local market, restore the confidence of prospective investors in order to move the industry forward.”

Mr. Adeyemo Adejumo, Managing Director of Continental Reinsurance “In order to move the insurance industry forward, this is the time to strengthen our support for the commission for the good of the industry and to fulfill our collective desire to take the insurance industry to its well deserved position in the near future.”
Adejumo did beckoned on the government to support the commission and the vision of the Insurance commissioner, He stated, “This calls for continued support of government to the National Insurance Commission and to the industry at large especially with increased capital insurance companies are now better positioned to play more active role in the Nigerian content scheme especially in oil and gas underwriting.

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), which is the apex regulatory body for the insurance industry in Nigeria, is backed by an enabling Act 1 and 2 of 1997 and the Insurance Act of 2003.

It was set up among other things to promote discipline and standards that stimulate long-term viability of Nigerians insurance industry, positioning it for global competition. NAICOM also was the responsibility of improving and deepening insurance penetration and density in the country and enthrone professionalism through continuous sanitisation of the industry.