By Patience Saghana
Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) has gone back to the drawing board with the aim to block all leakages that had in time past exposed the industry to fake insurance stickers and its perpetrators.

Mr Sunday Thomas, Director-General of the association in an interview with Financial Vanguard in Lagos last week admitted that there were leakages in the production of the stickers which created holes for fake stickers but stated that the association was ready to address the issue once and for all.

According to him, “We have a lot of leakages. And that is why we are carrying out an exercise and by the time we finish, we are actually going to get somewhere as to the position of insurance in relation to Motor vehicle in Nigeria”

One of the ways in which the NIA intends to battle fake insurers on the stickers is to go electronic with the stickers.
NIA boss said, “We believe that the codification by way of going electronically, vehicle insurance is something that can deal with issues of fake insurance and fake institutions”

“If you go to some part of the country, you will still find motor cover for Sun Insurance, Veritas etc. We still have them all over the place, and then you start to wonder how they come about it.

Nigeria is a large nation. It is difficult to comb all the nooks and crannies of the nation. I guess the law enforcement agents are trying their best.

But we are trying to evolve a system that will eradicate the issue of fake insurance document not only motor, we are also looking at marine because these two areas are very critical and I think we have gone very far in this, and before this year runs out, we should be able to put in place a system that is sustainable, robust and quite durable”.

Mr. Tom Imokhai, Managing Director of Standard Alliance Insurance General said the sector has had to deal with a lot of challenges which opened loopholes fake operators. Imokhai noted, “We face a lot of challenges with respect to the sales of the third party motor insurance policy.

Most vehicle owners do not have the time to visit the insurance offices to purchase the policies themselves, and are often too busy to attend to all the paper work required. Not ready to face a process they see as cumbersome, they often resort to procuring fake policies”.

He explained that “Standard Alliance is committed to use technology including scratch cards, to drive excellence in service delivery; we, therefore, felt we owed the public a duty to introduce a process which simplifies customers’ patronage of the policy”

He explained that the cards which have been ratified for sales and use by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) were “technically coded with the necessary security PINs, in addition to other information which further guide the buyer on the next very simple thing to do right in the comfort of his office, home or wherever such he finds himself upon purchase.”

According to him, “The process of loading it is the same as the usual GSM recharge card,” stating that “We do all the necessary paper work on behalf of the buyer once we receive the required information of the vehicle particulars through SMS to the line provided on the cards from the customer. It saves time and it is stress-free.”

He further explained that each card comes with its certificate which bears the same security code on the card, therefore, making it easy for the appropriate Police authority or licensing officers to identify the fake and the original insurance certificates.

He further explained that each card comes with its certificate which bears the same security code on the card, therefore, making it easy for the appropriate Police authority or licensing officers to identify the fake and the original insurance certificates.