Taking into cognisance the spread of the dreaded coronavirus tagged covid-19, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has extended the deadline for submission of first quarter returns by the operators by one month.
This implies that the operators have up to April 30, 2020 to submit their account as against the traditional month of March 31, 2020.
The Commission also granted waivers for insurance brokers and agents as well as loss adjusters in the submission of renewal documents within the same period of COVID- 19 pandemic.
The Circular No: NAICOM/ DPR/CIR/27/2020 dated March 24 2020 signed by Mr Pius Agboola, Director, Policy and Regulation at NAICOM to all insurance operators and made available to Daily Independent stated: Re: Palliatives As A Result Of The Impact Of Coronavirus (COVID-19) On Insurance Operators reads in parts: “Due to the negative impact of coronavirus on the mobility/interaction of persons as well as conduct of business in Nigeria and the world over, the Commission has reviewed the potential impact on the insurance sector and has thus taken the following measures;
Submission of first quarter returns has been extended by one month in the interim. Waivers will be granted in respect of delayed submission of renewal documents by insurance brokers, loss adjuster and insurance agent during the period of covid-19 pandemic, all meetings earlier scheduled to hold with the Commission suspended indefinitely.”
The Commission noted that insurance thrives on the principle of prevention is better than control measures as insurance operators are advised to comply with safety precautions issued by the National Center for Disease Control Commission (NCDC) and the federal government.
In another development, NAICOM has assured that the insured victims of the Lagos State pipeline explosion in Abule Ado area of Lagos State will be adequately compensated.
Sunday Thomas, the Acting-Commissioner for Insurance who gave the assurance on a Television programme weekend stated that the explosion is a timely reminder for Nigerians to take insurance matters seriously adding that victims with insurance coverage will be paid in full.
Thomas said: “Looking at it we need to see what level of compensation because if you see the buildings that have been damaged, we are not talking of N2billion for those residing in those buildings. What extent to which compensation can be gotten for these properties? I think that is where we will need to do a critical analysis.”
The explosion which occurred two Sunday ago threw residents of FESTAC area of Lagos State into a state of panic. Dead bodies are still being recovered from the debris of the explosion which rendered about 200 families homeless and properties worth billions of Naira destroyed.
Already, 17 dead bodies had been recovered including Reverend Mrs Henrietta Alokha, the administrator of Bethlehem Girls College, Abule Ado, Amuwo Odofin who dies while trying to rescue some of the students.
On insurance awareness, The NAICOM boss agrees that the commission has not done enough in educating the public on Insurance and its benefits, and announced another round of sensitisation exercise scheduled for the second quarter of the year.
“We also want to increase our effort in the area of developing the industry, we quite agree that we haven’t done enough in this area and we are picking it up with the sensitization of the public to get them to see the benefits of insurance”, he said.
It would be recalled that the Governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu had launched a N2 billion Relief fund, as he appealed to Lagosians, corporate bodies and Nigeria in general, to help provide funds to compensate victims of the explosion.
