By ROSEMARY ONUOHA

Federal and State governments should take insurance serious and pay premiums as at when due so as not be caught unawares when disaster strikes, President of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, CIIN, Mr. Wole Adetimehin has said.

Adetimehin made the call on the heels of the Dana plane crash which claimed many federal government workers even when underwriters are yet to be appointed for the compulsory group life insurance policy for federal civil servants for year 2012.

According to Adetimehin, the group life policy has been in existence but due to bureaucracy in governance underwriters for the current year are yet to be appointed and that leaves a gap.

It will be recalled that the Pension Reform Act, 2004, mandates the Federal Government to establish a compulsory group life insurance cover for its workforce and it should be renewed every year.

However, the policy is yet to be renewed for year 2012 even as many federal government workers have lost their lives in the ill-fated Dana crash of June 3, 2012.

According to Adetimehin,   governments should endeavour to do the right thing at the right time at all times, stressing that such lackadaisical attitude is not peculiar to the insurance sector alone but cuts across every sectors of the economy.

“Virtually all policy decision of governments in this part of the world do not agree with what obtains in other settings, and that is the challenge for all of us to impose on government and people in governance and people in policy making institutions to ensure that they set good leadership in all their roles.”

“When we had the bomb blast at Ikeja cantonment, you will recall what the industry suffered, however, that could not be likened or compared to 9:11 in USA. Till tomorrow, insurance operators in the USA are still taking relief from government because the loss was colossal and it was bound to affect the basis of providing cover for years.”

While stressing that Nigerians need to do quite a lot by ensuring that the right people are voted for into power, Adetimehin said “And when they get to office, we pray that God gives them the courage or what it takes to function effectively in such positions. The bane of our problem in this environment is that political decisions are made in virtually all areas which do not augur well for business concept and all other projects.”

However, to allay the fears of the families of victims of the Dana crash, Adetimehin assured that the federal government has a policy of adopting the transfer mechanism.

“But I can tell you what happens in practice. Close to renewal every year, underwriters providing cover for the federal civil servants group life are often told to hold cover which means to provide cover tentatively because in quote there is understanding that the insured, in this case the government, will always pay. So I don’t want to rule out that underwriters would have made provisions since they are well aware that it is an annual thing and a subject of bureaucracy.”