Insurers seek review of laws to cover oil, gas imports

Insurance industry operators are calling for the activation of various marine insurance laws to enable them cover associated risks with refined petroleum products imported into the country.

This, insurers believe has not be observed as provided in the law, given that “The Insurance Act 2003, for instance, provides that all imports into the country must be insured with an insurance company registered in Nigeria.”

Besides that, they are calling for enforcement of the Cabotage Act 2003, review of the Insurance Act 2003 and the Nigerian Oil Industry Content Development Act 2010. 

Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) made the call recently during a stakeholders meeting in Lagos, where it alarmed of a new plan by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to provide insurance protection to aviation passengers. 

“The NCAA, under the Ministry of Aviation, is planning to establish insurance fund for aviation passengers’ liability. All over the world, aviation passengers’ liability is subject to international conventions and the risks are covered by conventional insurance policies and so Nigeria cannot be an exception, they said.

Queering the interest of government  and its agencies coming back as players in insurance sector, the NIA asked “The Federal Government in 2007 divested its interest in insurance business when it sold NICON and Nigeria Re, on the understanding that such concerns are better managed by the private sector. But ironically, the same Government extracted workmen’s compensation from insurance business and transferred it to NSITF as Employee Compensation Scheme.”