By Rosemary Onuoha

A total of N319.8 million group life claims were paid in 2017 to beneficiaries of Nigeria Police officers who died in service in the period under review.

File: Police officers

According to the 2017 Nigerian insurance industry digest released by the Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA, last week, the amount was paid by three life insurers namely, Custodian Life Assurance Limited; Mutual Benefits Assurance Life Company Limited and FBN Insurance Limited.

Custodian Life paid N146.2 million; Mutual Benefits Life also paid N146.2 million while FBN Life paid N27.4 million as group life claims in 2017.

Speaking on the development, Director-General of NIA, Mrs. Yetunde Ilori, said that the insurance industry pays claims promptly and urged the public to take advantage of conflict resolution bodies set up by the industry to resolve all unpaid claims issues.

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Ilori stated: “The NIA in a bid to ensure the public are not denied claims, set up a complaints bureau, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) also has a bureau for settlement of claims disputes. We therefore urge the general public to take advantage of the bureaus to settle any controversial claims.”

Also speaking, Chairman, Sub Committee on Publicity and Communication, Insurers’ Committee, Mr. Oye Hassan-Odukale, said that insurance operators have pledged to leverage settlement of genuine claims to drive the industry’s rebranding initiative.