Matthew Otoijagha
The Chairman of Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Eddie Efekoha on Monday tendered his score card having steered the affairs of the Association for two years. Disclosing this at a press briefing in Lagos, he admitted that the last two years have been very productive.
He noted that his tenure was able to addressed four critical areas in line with theme of his administration which is “Sustainable Market Development through Stakeholders engagement.”
The theme of his leadership, according to him was strategically chosen to address the observed information gap that exists between the insurance profession/industry and the insuring public/other stakeholders.
Speaking on his achievements he said: “In the last two years we have been able to engaged stakeholders constructively. We have productive relationships with the regulator, the National Insurance Commission and I will continue to appreciate the commissioner for insurance for his support in the past two years and for making my tenure more productive.
“We engaged the Commission in the area of corporate governance issues and policy issues as it affect the industry. We also engaged the National Assembly as regard some bills being proposed by some members of the house. We were able to engage them by educating them on how the insurance industry works.
He said his tenure was able to engage the Federal ministry of finance and Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) to see how the tax regulation details can be worked out. “We have equally reached some level of understanding with the leadership of FIRS to reduce the friction between them and some of our members.”
Going forward, Efekoha added: “Our target is to seek amendment of the necessary tax laws to avoid multiple taxation which affects what accrues to our stakeholders. We need to tackle it to enable us to make profit and remain in business.
On insurance rebranding project he assured interested stakeholders that the association is committed to the rebranding project, which he said the industry hope to use to reposition the industry. “We are on course. Most member companies are still contributing towards the rebranding project. NAICOM has already paid its own portion. The rebranding has commenced and I am optimistic that this is just the beginning for the Industry.’’
On NIA Towers, he said construction has commenced for the seven floor new secretariat building, adding that it will cost the association a total of N1.5billion to complete in the next two years. “We are delighted that the building construction has taken off. We will continue to work hard to make sure the building is completed in the next two years. I thank members for their support morally and financially in making the building realizable.”
On how the fund was realized he said the association got a tax refund of N1billion in 2017 and N500million was contributed by all member companies
The NIA chairman also said the body under his tenure engaged the services of KPMG to develop a 10-year agenda for rapid and sustainable development of the insurance industry in Nigeria in harmony with the various segments of the market.