NIA introduces marine database to check leakages

DETERMINED to check leakages in the marine business in the nation’s ports, the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) has extended the marine module of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) to curb fraud of fake marine certificates.

The Chairman of the association, GUS Wiggle, addressing a press conference in Lagos, said following the observed leakages in marine business, the NIID was extended to curb the fraud of fake marine certificates.

According to him, the marine module of the NIID has become fully functional and member companies have started uploading their marine certificates.

According to him, the aim is to plug the leakages in import business resulting in loss of billions of naira premium accruable to the insurance industry.

“I am indeed delighted to report that till date, over 7,000 marine policies had been uploaded. This attests to the general acceptability of this project and the need to support it in the interest of the industry and the national economy.”

He said the association has sustained engagement with the relevant stakeholders such as Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, (CIBN), Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Nigerian Customs Service and National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to seek their support for the initiative. We intend to reach out to other relevant institutions.

The NIA boss explained that the association continued to make giant strides in the implementation of the NIID device. For instance, more verification devices were distributed to member companies to enhance their marketing activities. As a fall-out of the public acceptance of the device, the number of uploads has increased significantly over the past few years.

As at May, 2015, over three million vehicles have been uploaded by the 41 member companies underwriting motor insurance business. The association, he said, will continue its drive to extend the states covered by the NIID device in order to bring more motor vehicles into the NIID net.
He said “We implore motorists to make sure that they buy genuine insurance certificates from insurance companies, brokers or accredited agents and to resist the temptation of patronizing touts and other unauthorized sources as they do not sell genuine motor certificates and cannot be guaranteed any benefit in the event of a loss.”