Mr. Yemi Soladoye, Consultant to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) on the Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI) has called on Nigerians to embrace the compulsory insurance products which NAICOM is enforcing saying that it will benefit them.

According to Soladoye, if people embrace the compulsory insurance products, in the event of death or disaster, the dependants of the deceased would be compensated, thereby reducing the impact of loss on breadwinners of the affected families.

He therefore stated that its choice of Ibadan as the first port of call for the commencement of enforcement of compulsory insurance products in the country was due to the flood disaster that happened there.

Soladoye said the city was selected for the commencement of enforcement of compulsory insurances because the commission regretted that many residents in the city who lost their lives and assets were left alone to rue over their losses.

He also maintained that had some of those properties destroyed by flood been covered under any household policies, their owners would have received adequate compensation from the insurance industry.

Soladoye, who rationalised the commission’s decision to start enforcement of compulsory insurance in the city, said that “in the light of what happened in the city recent, the choice of Ibadan is a good one.”

The commission two years ago picked on 5 out of the 15 compulsory insurance products in the country as flagship products and it is currently enforcing with the laws that made them compulsory.

These products include occupiers’ liability insurance and builder liability insurance both mandated by Sections 64 and 65 of the Insurance Act, 2003 and medical professionals liability insurance mandated by Act 35 of 1999 establishing the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The others are employers’ liability insurance, group life insurance for employees as mandated by the Pension Reform Act, 2004 and the third party motor insurance mandated by the Third Party Insurance Act, 1950.

MDRI is a medium term plan under which NAICOM is carrying on the first phase of the reforms in the country’s insurance industry.

It is premised on four key areas namely; enforcement of compulsory insurance products, sanitisation and modernisation of the insurance agency system, wiping out of fake insurance institutions and introduction of risk-based supervision. The scheme is intended to exploit the potentials inherent in green zones as insurance of public buildings and buildings under construction, group life insurance scheme as well as motor insurance among others.

It is expected to continue till 2012 when expectedly, expansion of the industry’s underwriting capacity of the industry, market efficiency and consumer protection would have been attained.