Press Briefing by NIA Chairman, Mr. GUS Wiggle on Monday, June 20, 2016 in Lagos.
Gentlemen of the Press, good morning and welcome to this very important press briefing to keep you abreast of developments in the industry
I thank you for coming and I do hope that we will leave this briefing better informed and educated on the issues that relate to the activities of the Association and the insurance industry
First, let me take this opportunity to inform you that the 45th Annual General Meeting [AGM] of the Association will take place by 12.00 noon on Thursday, June 30, 2016 at the Metropolitan Club, Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
It is important to state also that this year’s AGM marks the end of my two year tenure as chairman of the Association. So, I want to thank you most profoundly for your support through positive media coverage during this two year tenure.
You would recall that in my acceptance speech in June 2014, I outlined the following areas amongst others for special attention:
· To sustain and improve on the good relationship that already exists with our regulator, NAICOM.
· To reach out to other regulators in the financial services sector whose oversight functions impact on our business.
· To strengthen the cordial relationship that exists with other arms of the industry such as NCRIB, ILAN, ARIAN, CIIN etc.
· To enforce market discipline by encouraging peer review among member companies with a view to aligning the market practice with international best practices.
· To sustain the current effort at addressing the laws affecting the growth of the market. The Companies Income Tax Amendment Act (CITA) 2007 amongst others readily comes to mind.
· To increase the support for the Technical Committees of the Association with a view to realizing their potential which will be harnessed for the achievement of the overall goals of the Association
· To fast track the process of re establishing the Oil & Gas Insurance Pool so that the industry can reap the full benefit of the Nigerian Local Content Development Act.
· To Promote Micro insurance as a way of deepening insurance penetration in Nigeria.
Looking back at the agenda we set for ourselves at the beginning of our tenure, we want to say that we have made some modest achievements during the period.
On the relationship with NAICOM, we have continued to engage the Commission on issues that affect the business of our members and this will continue as issues may arise.
There is also an on-going initiative to improve market conduct and market discipline
On the relationship between the Association and other regulatory bodies, the Association has continued to engage other regulators such as SEC, FIRS, PENCOM and NSE on issues bothering on the effect of their oversight activities on member companies.
A representative of the Governing Council met with the Executive Management of the Federal Inland Revenue Service on issues relating to some of the provisions of CITA 2007 as effect on the insurance sector. It is expected that our engagement will resolve the issues observed
Gentlemen of the Press, we have also had very robust and fruitful discussions with the National Assembly in our determination to address holistically the issues that are inhibiting the growth of the insurance sector.
I am also happy to inform you that the Association is strongly represented in the Insurance Industry Consultative Council and in fact, providing the secretariat for this year’s Annual National Insurance Conference in Abuja. Membership of the IICC includes all the trade groups, the CIIN and NAICOM.
In the area of promoting market discipline, the mandate of the Governing Council Disciplinary Committee has been widened to include Conflict Resolution among members. This is to enable the Committee handle disputes between member companies. This will complement activities of the Customer Complaints Bureau.
The Governing Council has also referred many issues to the technical committees to ensure that views are adequately taken into consideration in taking decisions in core technical areas. This is a sure way of strengthening the technical committees which are usually the bedrock of our decisions on technical matters.
Let me also report that the Energy and Allied Insurance Pool (EAIPN) has taken off and 20 companies have already subscribed to the Pool. To ensure high performance and leverage on international experience, Africa Re has been appointed as the manager to the pool.
As a way of promoting Micro insurance in Nigeria, the Association organised a micro-insurance fair in 2015 at the Blue Roof Hall, Agidingbi, Ikeja.
This aim was to bring the stakeholders together and chart the way forward for micro-insurance in Nigeria. I am happy to report that it was a success and we will continue to build on the success of that event to push micro-insurance as a veritable product line for improving market penetration
Although we have made modest progress, there is still a lot to be done.
I thank most profoundly, my colleagues in the Governing Council for their support and urge them to extend even a greater level of support to the in-coming Chairman of the Association.
Thank you and God bless
G. U. S. Wiggle
Chairman, NIA
