Matthew Otoijagha
Insurance operators are entering year 2019 with great optimism, hoping that the year will turn out better than 2018. Operators, who spoke, expressed optimism that the federal government’s plan to embark on developmental projects in 2019 will boost activities in the insurance sector.
Speaking on this, Managing Director of Prorisk Insurance Brokers, Mr. Oluwagbemiga Olawoyin, said, “We believe that the performance of the sector will be better, considering government’s various plans for developmental projects. So we are looking at 2019 with great optimism.”
Although operators were optimistic that year 2019 will see improved business activities, they highlighted some issues that will likely shape the industry in 2019. Strict regulatory oversight This year, strict regulatory oversight by the industry regulator, National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, is expected to take the centre stage as indications emerge that the regulator will not be lenient with defaults by operators.
The tough stance by NAICOM is compelled by the cancellation of two unique policies after agitations from both the insurers and brokers. After the Tier Based Minimum Solvency Capital, TBMSC, and the State Insurance Producers, SIP, policies were aggressively opposed and rejected by operators; NAICOM affirmed that it will consider other appropriate tools to address the issue of low capital in the insurance industry.
According to NAICOM, there is need for underwriters to be adequately capitalized. NAICOM stated: “The fact remains that the operators need to be capitalized beyond their present level. But the commission will look at its bag and use the appropriate tools to address this issue.
With the little power that we have in NAICOM now, we will use it to the advantage of the market.” Recapitalization, Mergers and Acquisitions and the anticipation of strict and intense supervision from the regulator will compel more capital raising by insurers and it is expected that the sector could experience some mergers and acquisitions after so many years.
Also, the sector is expected to witness more foreign investments in the course of the year. Speaking on this, Olawoyin said: “The TBMSC was a major pronouncement which brought some kind of highlight to the industry. We know that it has been cancelled, but various operators are already making efforts to shore up their capital in one way or the other. That has put some highlights into the capital base of underwriters. So going forward, we are going to be seeing one form of capital raising or the other.”
Also speaking on this, Managing Director of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc. Mr. Eddie Efekoha said that the cancelled TBMSC policy opened the eyes of operators. He stated: “Despite the cancellation of the TBMSC, it has opened the eyes of operators. Some of us are already taking advantage of that.
‘‘Thanks to NAICOM because at times, we all sleep and ignore what we should do and focus on less important things. But the TBMSC brought about a reawakening on some of us who were sleeping.”
Borno raises biometric data capture panel on pensioners
Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, has raised a biometric data capture panel on pensioners’ documentation and pension payments for retired workers.
Inaugurating the committee recently at the Government House, Maiduguri, Shettima said that the panel headed by Yerima Saleh, an ex-Head of Service (HoS), is saddled with the responsibility of uncovering the problems besetting pensioners’ documentation and payments.
He said though the Workers Biometrics Committee cleared 9,000 pensioners, while 500 pensioners have pending cases that withheld payments of their pensions. According to him, the panel has representatives of stakeholders that included Mohammed Abdullahi, Ali Grema, and Mai Bukar Galtimari, who represented the National Union of Pensioners (NUP).
He said the inauguration of the panel follows concern by a group of pensioners who protested at Musa Usman secretariat complex over non-payment of their pensions. Shettima explained that the biometric had been complicated because some persons are still benefiting from all kinds of fraudulent activities through pension payments.
He said the biometric committee had identified ghost pensioners, adding that some persons had been collecting millions of Naira as pensions alongside collection of monthly salaries. Shettima attributed the simultaneous collection of pension and salaries to “poor payments system” that allowed fraudulent activities in workers’ salary and pension payments.
He further disclosed that over 9,000 pensioners have already been cleared and captured in the biometric exercise with their regular pension payments. He noted that only 500 pensioners had cases with their biometric data capture, including 53 pensioners, who could not provide their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) and bank statements.
Shettima further disclosed that the biometric exercise has already identified about 12,000 ghost workers. According to him, the exercise has saved N600 million on monthly wage bill of the State Government.
He pledged that the saved money from ghost workers would be re-allocated to other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), while government would engage 1,000 teachers and other administrative staff into state’s civil service.
He said with this development, the embargo on employment has now been lifted. The protesting pensioners told the Governor that they were ignorant of issues of workers biometric data capture exercise.