Building Insurance: Trillion naira premium target still a dream

The nation’s insurance industry is sitting on billions of naira that is capable of transforming the sector to contribute reasonably to the country’s GDP if only the emergent opportunities can be exploited. The ‘sleeping fortune’ is on taking advantage of building insurance made effective in the Insurance Act 2003, as a compulsory policy to take care of occupiers liability in the event of accident. Its impact analysts have said, is capable of generating several billion of naira premiums annually if implemented.

Section 64 of the Insurance Act 2003 provides that “No person shall cause to be constructed any building of more than two floors without insuring with a registered insurer his liability in respect of construction risks caused by his negligence or the negligence of his servants, agents or consultants which may result in bodily injury or loss of life to or damage to property of any workman on the site or of any member of the public.

A person who contravenes the provision of this law commits an offence and on conviction shall be liable to a fine of N250, 000 or imprisonment for three years or both.

While section 65 of the Insurance Act stipulates that “Every public building shall be insured with a registered insurer against the hazards of collapse, fire, earthquake, storm and flood. The penalty for non-compliance with this occupier’s liability insurance is N100, 000 or one year imprisonment or both.

However, like many other areas of insurance which remained crawling as a result of reasons including low awareness, apathy and most importantly,  operators’ inability to take proactive steps on implementation, this goldmine has largely remained a dream.

While, the operators themselves have unanimously agreed that the regulator is conceivably doing what it is suppose to do in terms of creating awareness having launched in the six geopolitical zones of the country, it is left for the operators to step up action and sell the product.