NAICOM, Customs move to end fake marine insurances
The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) are collaborating to end fake insurances at the sea ports.
The collaboration also seeks to ensure that all goods imported into Nigeria have insurances.
The collaboration was announced by NAICOM and NCS when the Commissioner of Insurance/CEO National Insurance Commission, Alhaji Mohammed Kari paid courtesy visit on the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed
a Ibrahim Ali (Rtd).
“The collaboration has taken up. We have signed and sealed the collaboration thus, it’s now left for us to work the fine lines and see how we can work together in achieving it,” the Customs boss told newsmen shortly after the meeting.
He also said the collaboration will include NAICOM building technical capacity for the Nigerian Customs to be able to detect fake insurances at the ports.
“The commissioner has graciously agreed to give us his team of experts who will now sit with us and train us on insurance so that we will have some of our officers and men who have some level knowledge of insurance. This is novel and we are sincerely grateful,” he said.
Speaking further, the Commissioner for Insurance, Alhaji Kari, said the Customs still have problems with the marine insurance. Most of the insurances that are taken to cover imports into Nigeria are supposed to be by the Nigerian insurance operators. But unfortunately, the Customs Service doesn’t have the facility to identify fake insurances. So what they do is that, once they cannot confirm if insurance is fake or where there is no insurance, they just add the value of insurance to calculate the CIF but they don’t pursue the insurance aspect which is a big loss to insurance and the Nigerian economy”, he explained.
“We have agreed to work on that and we will assist them. We are going to work with the market Offices Committee of the Nigerian Insurance Association (NIA) to come up with something that will synchronize with the Customs portal so that with a click of the button, the Customs can confirm the authenticity of the certificate to be genuine or not”, he said.
Kari also at the meeting with the CGS advised ministries, departments and agencies of government to ensure compliance with the provisions of extant laws in all their insurance activities.
He called on all MDAs to set up insurance desks or units in their various offices and manned by qualified insurance professionals to handle the insurances of their assets.
He stressed that advising the government and all its agencies on insurance matters is one of the key functions of the commission and was prepared to offer this service to ensure adequate insurance and protection of all government assets.