The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has reminded the three tiers of government in Nigeria to factor into their yearly budgets funds that will provide insurance cover public buildings in line with the existing insurance law in the country..
The Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Mr. Sunday Thomas, who gave the charge in his address at the 12th meeting of the National Council of Lands, Housing and Urban Development held in Kaduna, pointed out that insurance of public buildings, including those under construction, were made compulsory by extant insurance laws in Nigeria and, thus, must be complied with by all.
According to him, Section 64 of the Insurance Act 2003 makes it mandatory for individuals, governments and corporate organisations that undertake the construction of any building above two floors to procure a builder’s liability insurance policy (building under construction) from any of the NAICOM’ licensed Insurer in Nigeria.
Expatiating further, the NAICOM boss said Section 65 of the Insurance Act 2003 also made it compulsory for all public buildings in the country to be insured to protect innocent victims in the events of accidents and other disasters that may occur while they are within such premises.
The industry expert urged the various state governments to emulate the Lagos State Government by domesticating the insurance laws in their respective states.
He listed some of the benefits from compliance with these compulsory insurances to the tiers of government as including reduction in their expenditure in event of disaster that may affect citizens by shifting the burden to the risk-bearers (Insurance Companies), hence restoration would not be settled from tax payer’s money, and creation of employment opportunities for citizens of the state.
In addition, Thomas maintained that compliance with the extant law would also avail the tiers of government opportunity to boost their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and by so doing, improve the quality of governance in their respective domains, amongst other benefits.
