Monday, 18 June 2012 00:00

Written by Kayode Adelowokan

Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Mr. Olusola Ladipo-Ajayi, has disclosed that the organisation would launch the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) project next week.

Ladipo-Ajayi, who stating at a  press briefing on the official launch of the NIID project at the LASACO head office, said: ““Having addressed some of the teething challenges posed by the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) project, I am happy to inform you that the project will be formally launched on Tuesday, June 26, 2012, Lagos.”

The Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) is an information technology based system project took up by NIA in 2003 with the aim to provide easy collation and dissemination of statistical and other information relating to insurance on one hand , and also serves as a vehicle for easy identication of genuine insurance documents by relevant authorized persons.

Relaying some of the benefits Nigerians tends to gain from the system, the Chairman of the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) said that the system help the security agencies to monitor and authenticate insurance transactions documents.

Ladipo-Ajayi also said that the IT system will help the country reduce incidences of fraudulent insurance transactions and policies most especially for motor and marine policies.

“Reducing red tape and corruption by integrating with the vehicle registration system of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the police and other relevant government agencies. The NIID system will in another way ensure easy access to statistical data for effective decision making”.

Mr. Olusola Ladipo-Ajayi however revealed that the Association currently have over 500, 000 vehicle insurance policies on the database with a daily average upload of 2000 records.

The NIA Chairman also confirmed that the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and some other stakeholders such as the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) have signified their interest in the acceptance of the system as the industry's database.

The Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Mr. Olusola Ladipo-Ajayi therefore called on policy holders whose insurance details have been uploaded to the system to check so as to monitor their insurance policy status via SMS and the internet service.

“Mobile handsets are currently being configured for LEAs for on-the-spot check of insurance validity of vehicles on the roads and development work is on-going for the Marine module”.