Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Fire outbreak in both public and private institutions in different parts of the country, boosted insurers renewed appeal to the insuring public to take advantage of the Occupiers Liability Insurance Policy to mitigate these losses.
The call is coming at the backdrop of increasing fire disaster in various parts of the country. For instance, the Boxing Day explosion at Jankara market, a fire incident that gutted the biggest plank market in Ebutte Metta, all in Lagos, resulting in loss of goods worth millions of naira.
Report also indicated that 607 cases of fire disaster were recorded in Oyo State last year, according to the director of Oyo State fire service, Kareem Oyekunle, and property worth over N1 billion were lost to the inferno. Similar cases of fire havoc were reported in other parts of the country involving several millions of naira loss of property.
To check this menace, section 65 of the 2003 Insurance Act provided for Occupiers Liability Insurance Policy, which stipulates that all business and office premises (government, corporate, private), guest houses, hostels and residential estates, among others must take this compulsory policy cover for protection.
Industry chieftains who spoke to The Guardian, lamented these losses, regretted that the public are not taking advantage of the compulsory policy to protect themselves against unexpected risks.
According to the risk managers, every outbreak of fire poses serious threat to the national economy, as it leaves in its wake enormous material damage, injury to persons, disruption of economic and commercial activities of the people affected.
The economic implications of these losses, industry chieftains believe the ideal alternative is for Nigerians to buy insurance policy and transfer this burden to the insurers, who are the professional risk bearer.
The risk managers said that this would surely ease the burden of government since insurance is a social device providing financial compensation to cushion the effects of unexpected misfortune. Where adequate fire insurance exists, property destroyed by fire can be reinstated with minimum delay.
The Group Managing Director, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, Akin Ogunbiyi said that compliance with the compulsory insurance products had over the years presented both opportunities and challenges to the entire insurance industry in Nigeria.
He said that a large percentage of Nigerians are not aware of these insurances, the advantages and benefits that they will get from insuring their property. What we need to do as an industry, he said, is to come up with products and services that will meet the needs of 160 million Nigerians.
�We need to look at the products that meet the needs of the common man, create value addition for them and make it affordable. The industry must rise up to create awareness that these products are available and is for the benefit of policyholders in the local government areas, state governments, and this thing you are talking about will be taken care of.
The President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Laide Osijo, lamenting the impact of losses from recent fire incidence in the country said, �the NCRIB is pained by the loss and we seize this opportunity to underscore the need for adequate preventive measures against fire disasters.�
The council reiterated the call for compulsory insurance of historical and important public edifices as enshrined in the legal provision under Insurance Act 2003 (sections 64 and 65) on insurance of public buildings, as well as avail themselves the benefits of insurance, particularly those that relates to property.
The call is coming at the backdrop of increasing fire disaster in various parts of the country. For instance, the Boxing Day explosion at Jankara market, a fire incident that gutted the biggest plank market in Ebutte Metta, all in Lagos, resulting in loss of goods worth millions of naira.
Report also indicated that 607 cases of fire disaster were recorded in Oyo State last year, according to the director of Oyo State fire service, Kareem Oyekunle, and property worth over N1 billion were lost to the inferno. Similar cases of fire havoc were reported in other parts of the country involving several millions of naira loss of property.
To check this menace, section 65 of the 2003 Insurance Act provided for Occupiers Liability Insurance Policy, which stipulates that all business and office premises (government, corporate, private), guest houses, hostels and residential estates, among others must take this compulsory policy cover for protection.
Industry chieftains who spoke to The Guardian, lamented these losses, regretted that the public are not taking advantage of the compulsory policy to protect themselves against unexpected risks.
According to the risk managers, every outbreak of fire poses serious threat to the national economy, as it leaves in its wake enormous material damage, injury to persons, disruption of economic and commercial activities of the people affected.
The economic implications of these losses, industry chieftains believe the ideal alternative is for Nigerians to buy insurance policy and transfer this burden to the insurers, who are the professional risk bearer.
The risk managers said that this would surely ease the burden of government since insurance is a social device providing financial compensation to cushion the effects of unexpected misfortune. Where adequate fire insurance exists, property destroyed by fire can be reinstated with minimum delay.
The Group Managing Director, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, Akin Ogunbiyi said that compliance with the compulsory insurance products had over the years presented both opportunities and challenges to the entire insurance industry in Nigeria.
He said that a large percentage of Nigerians are not aware of these insurances, the advantages and benefits that they will get from insuring their property. What we need to do as an industry, he said, is to come up with products and services that will meet the needs of 160 million Nigerians.
�We need to look at the products that meet the needs of the common man, create value addition for them and make it affordable. The industry must rise up to create awareness that these products are available and is for the benefit of policyholders in the local government areas, state governments, and this thing you are talking about will be taken care of.
The President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Laide Osijo, lamenting the impact of losses from recent fire incidence in the country said, �the NCRIB is pained by the loss and we seize this opportunity to underscore the need for adequate preventive measures against fire disasters.�
The council reiterated the call for compulsory insurance of historical and important public edifices as enshrined in the legal provision under Insurance Act 2003 (sections 64 and 65) on insurance of public buildings, as well as avail themselves the benefits of insurance, particularly those that relates to property.
