By Favour Nnabugwu

A TOTAL of 218 complaints were resolved by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for which N5 billion claims were settled by insurance companies to aggrieved policyholders in 2016.

The Commission said that the claims settlement was N5,475,174,716.63    last year though, the Commission received a total of 413 complaints from aggrieved policyholders against insurance firms during the year.

The complaints were received by NAICOM’s Complaints Bureau, a unit established in accordance with section 8(a) of the NAICOM Act No. 1 of 1997 as an organ to which members of the public submit complaints against insurance companies and intermediaries.

According to NAICOM, “The Commission is working on the verge of resolving a total of 650 ongoing cases from 2014 which are all at different stages of conclusion. NAICOM will continue to strive hard to ensure protection of policyholders, beneficiaries and third parties of insurance contracts.”

The insurance regulator said that underwriters were in most cases right in their decisions to repudiate claims as some cases were outright fraud on the part of customers.

“A case was withdrawn because it was found to be fraudulent, 5 cases were referred to PTAD over non payment of pension, another one was transferred to Pencom. Cases that are found to be subjudice were not treated but left to the courts to do the needful.

“Cases not resolved are still being looked at by the Complaint Bureau Unit in the Commission.”

The management of NAICOM under the leadership of Commissioner for Insurance, Alhaji Muhammed Kari, encourages members of the public who believed their genuine claims have not been paid, to report such to the Commission, assuring that the issues would be promptly resolved.

While the Bureau is not an alternative to the court of law, where disputes necessarily have to be resolved, its findings may be related to the provision of section 8 of the NAICOM Act, which empowers the Commission to inquire into the operations of insurance companies and intermediaries.

Explaining the kind of dispute people can refer to the Bureau, NAICOM noted that all insurance disputes arising from insurance policies issued by registered insurers, such as undue delay in settlement of genuine claims, denial of liability, where the complainant is convinced that there is liability.