Stakeholders in the insurance industry have decried the high level of outstanding premium being owed underwriters in the insurance industry calling on the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to take decisive action against the ugly trend.

To this end, they said that NAICOM should publish names of brokers who are in the habit of collecting premium and failing to remit same to underwriters.

According to the aggrieved stakeholders, NAICOM has been lenient with the outstanding premium issue because NAICOM staff receive their salaries and wages regularly from the federal government therefore they are not disturbed with the outstanding premium saga that is adversely affecting the bottom-line of underwriters in the sector.

Mr. Nona Awoh, who spoke to Vanguard in Lagos, noted that NAICOM so far has paid lip service to the outstanding premium issue, calling on insurance companies to go ahead and publish names of debtor brokers who perpetrate such vice so that adequate sanctions will be meted out to them.

Meanwhile, a university lecturer, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, has advised NAICOM to compel insurance brokers to pay interests on premium that were not remitted to underwriters within 30 days of collection.

Osipitan of the Faculty of Law at University of Lagos said that this would check non-remittance of premium to insurance companies.

According to him, the interests should be calculated with effect from 30 days after the collection of the premium, adding “Prompt payment of premium and immediate settlement of accepted claims are the twin pillars on which the conduct of insurance business stand.”

Osipitan stated “Delay in the payment of agreed claims may defeat the aspiration of the insured. The interest is to check the excesses of brokers who collect premium without remitting same. This is the reason for the provision of Section 50 (1) of the Insurance Act, 2003 which provides that receipt of a premium shall be condition precedent to a valid insurance contract.”

Osipitan said that the Section (50) 1 gave legitimacy to no premium no cover clause but that the section, however, failed to prescribe sanction for any insurer who underwrote a risk or issued certificate of insurance without collecting premium immediately or within a specific time frame.