By Rosemary ONUOHA
The Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA, said it is working closely with the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, to fine tune the guidelines for the underwriting of oil & gas insurance in year 2012.

Chairman of the NIA, Mr. Olusola Ladipo-Ajayi who made this assertion said that the move became necessary to allow more insurers participate in the insurance of oil and gas business.

It will be recalled that some underwriting firms have complained that some of the requirements of the guideline are too strict as such is an automatic disqualification for them from participating in the insurance of oil and gas in the country.

Ladipo-Ajayi said “The NIA is working closely with NAICOM to fine tune the guidelines for the underwriting of oil and gas insurance in year 2012. It is our expectation that more member companies will take advantage of the local content law and participate in the insurance of oil and gas assets.”

The guideline was issued pursuant to the provisions of Section 50 of the Nigeria Oil & Gas Industry Content Development Act 2010, the Insurance Act 2003 and the National Insurance Commission Act 1997, for the purpose of establishing uniform set of rules, regulations and standards for contracts of insurance within the Oil & Gas industry in Nigeria.

According to the guideline all Nigerian registered insurers are eligible to participate in any Nigeria Oil & Gas Insurance business, subject to the limitation as stipulated in the operational licence and the participation criteria are that the certified true copy of licence and/or certification (in the case of consortium bidding) issued by the Commission shall subsist for the purpose of determining authorisation to transact oil & gas or energy insurance business.

Also the guideline stipulates that all insurers willing to participate directly in any oil & gas or energy insurance business must provide evidence of possession of current tax clearance certificate; VAT registration; evidence of workmen’s compensation insurance; pension registration and group life insurance certificate; certified true copy of the insurer’s operational licence; Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) Permit as well as latest audited accounts approved by the Commission.