By RITA OBODOECHINA

The National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, said it has strengthened its Complaints Bureau units to deal with complaints from the insuring public on issues relating to non-payment of genuine claims by insurance companies and other areas of dispute.

Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel, who stated this at the 2012 seminar of the Financial Services Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, last week, said that the new insurance bill provides for an enhanced assets classification and appropriate dispute resolution mechanism.

Daniel who spoke on the theme ‘Repositioning the Nigerian insurance industry to enhance relevance to National economic transformation’ explained that insurance is the most favoured risk transfer mechanism  and many diverse claims such as the victims of severe floods, motor accident, fire accident, to claims emerging from explosions, air crashes, have all tested the resilience of the insurance industry.

He said, “Similarly the re-insurance industry has come to the fore in the light of its crucial role in supporting catastrophe risk and in maintaining financial stability.”

The NAICOM boss added that there is a similar link between development of insurance and economic development. The commonly used index of measuring the development of insurance in an economy is the market penetration which is the ratio of total insurance premiums to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, and this is less than one per cent in Nigeria.”

He   stressed that in development economies, insurance companies   are a major source of the long-term   capital and have dominant share in total assets.

He said,   “They also provide funding for end-of-service indemnity, life insurance benefits, annuity and gratuity.”