NCRIB Calls On VIS To Include Insurance In Its Enforcement Strategies
L – R: Executive Secretary, The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Mr. Tope Adaramola; Lagos State Vehicle Inspection Service, Engr. David Famuyide; President, NCRIB, Mr. Rotimi Edu, mni; Managing Director, African Alliance Insurance Plc, Mrs. Joyce Ojemudia; Executive Director, African Alliance Insurance, Mrs. Olabisi Adekola; Deputy President, NCRIB, Mr. Tunde Oguntade at the February Edition of NCRIB Members’ Evening held in Lagos
The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has appealed to the Lagos State Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) to increase its enforcement strategies to include Insurance certificates in such a way that any motorist without a genuine Motor Insurance Certificate is made to face sanctions as stipulated in the law.
He also called on the government and other relevant agencies to wade in and stop those selling insurance policies at local government councils across the country in order to save the insurance industry from further loss of revenue to racketeers.
The President of the Council, Rotimi Edu, made the call yesterday at the February edition of the Council’s Members’ Evening hosted by African Alliance Insurance Plc in Lagos.
According to him, it was recently reported that Nigeria’s Insurance Industry loses over N160 billion yearly to fake motor insurance racketeers. It is, however, disheartening to note that an industry that had been contributing less than one per cent to the gross domestic product, in spite of its huge potential, loses such a whopping amount of money to fake vendors who contribute nothing to the growth of the nation.
He noted that some of these fake racketeers have their offices in some local government secretariat across the nation, carrying out their unethical acts unabated.
L-R: Lagos State Vehicle Inspection Service, Engr. David Famuyide; Deputy President, Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Mr. Tunde Oguntade; President, NCRIB, Mr. Rotimi Edu, mni; Managing Director, African Alliance Insurance Plc, Mrs. Joyce Ojemudia; Executive Director, African Alliance Insurance, Mrs. Olabisi Adekola; at the February Edition of NCRIB Members’ Evening held in Lagos recently.
Speaking further, Edu said, “Aside from the loss of revenue and premium that should accrue to the industry, these criminals create for us a bad image. Most of the unattended claims in Motor Insurance are victims of fake certificates. It is saddened to note that most motorists go about their daily businesses with certificates of moribund and deformed insurance companies, just because there is no proper enforcement.
“Some of these insurance policies flying around Local Government are just putting money into people’s pocket. I am certainly aware that the Nigerian Insurers Association deployed technology to curb the proliferation of fake certificates. But I am of the opinion that enforcement is still at low ebb.
While appealing to Government to wade into the situation and bring the perpetrators to book, Edu said also, my plea goes to Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) to see this as a clarion call.
Your organization can as well increase your enforcement strategies to include Insurance certificates in such a way that any motorist without a genuine Motor Insurance Certificate should be made to face sanctions as stipulated in the law. “Our economy continues to drag because we are not paying attention to the issue of insurance.
The representative of VIS, David Olufemi Famuyide, while speaking on “Recent developments in vehicle inspection sector, ”pledged the agency’s readiness to partner with the insurance sector to rid the nation of fake motor insurance certificates.
On the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) PlateDetect Device and the new mode of enforcement for the vehicle inspection service, he explained “the ANPR technology is integrated with agencies responsible for the Vehicle Licence; Insurance Policy; Road Worthiness Certificate; Hackney Permit (Commercial vehicles only); LASDRI Card (Commercial vehicles only); Body Tag, Driver’s Badge and Conductor’s Badge; Uses special cameras that capture and interpret vehicle Licence Plate Numbers.
“The captured pictures and alpha-numeric digits of the number plates are stored in a database. PlateDetect accesses the stored data and runs it through different vehicle registration databases such as AutoREG, Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID), Road Worthiness, Hackney Permit and LASDRI (for commercial vehicles) etc, to determine the registration status of the vehicle.
“The solution checks for the validity of the licenses/registration from the agencies above and return a value: valid/expired. Where expired (or not found), a bill is generated from the list of items and tariffs has been provided by in the Transport Sector Reform Law 2018. The bill is sent to CBS for printing while SMS is sent to the defaulter(s) and bills are sent to the defaulter’s residences.
According to him, the following are required from motorists and motorcyclists: proper maintenance of vehicles/motorcycles obedience to all traffic rules and regulations; presentation of vehicles for proper inspection; need to obtain genuine and valid documents such as valid driver’s licence, valid roadworthiness certificate with computerized inspection in LACVIS, valid insurance certificate, valid hackney/stage carriage permit (commercial), and Lagos State Driver’s Institute Permit/Certificate (Commercial); fire extinguisher; spare tyre and C-caution & Retro-Reflective gape.
