Motor Insurance Gets Boost as Insurers Comply with NIID Project

With compliance level to the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) project, initiated by the Nigerian Insurance Association (NIA), reaching a 95 per cent tall stake, the era of fake insurance certificates may soon be over in Nigeria. Already, out of the 49 registered insurers in Nigeria, 42 insurers have embraced the project.
This disclosure was made recently by the senior manager and Head of corporate communications of the NIA, Mr. Davies Iyasere.
According to him, ‘The Insurance companies have fully supplied their data and the NIA is partnering Courteville Business Solutions Plc. There maybe one or two other companies involved in this, but I know officially that NIA is partnering Courteville on this database project. We are also in partnership with Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).’
He also explained that the NIID project has received some dotting of I’s and crossing of T’s, adding that at the present level, the project is expected to be launched by the end of March, 2012. He said, so far, ‘We want to say that if you buy a policy, within 24 hours, you can have your plate number. And it is now a requirement to get a motor insurance policy before getting a new plate number or renewing your motor vehicle license.
Iyasere reiterated that the NIA is set to issue out as many as 500,000 mobile verification devices to law enforcement officers, which are crucial to detecting fake insurance certificates.
The officials who will be so updated are the Nigeria Police, the Federal Road Safety Corporation (FRSC), the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO), and state transport officers. This centralised motor insurance policy module is expected to kick-start other insurance covers which will also be covered by the NIID platform.
Corroborating, Mr. Femi Niyi, the Executive Director, Projects & Strategy, Courteville Business Solutions Plc, confirmed that over 40 Insurance companies have so far registered their motor insurance policies data under the NIID platform.