Why You Should Allow Verification Of Your Vehicle Insurance Certificate

Henceforth, if you are driving within Lagos State and
officials of the Ministry of Transportation or other
law enforcement agents stop you to verify the
authenticity and genuineness of your motor
insurance certificate, please oblige them.
This is because the Nigeria Insurers Association, NIA,
has handed over some motor insurance verification
devices to officials of Lagos state government to
check for genuine insurance on the platform of the
Nigerian Insurance Industry Database, NIID.
According to the NIA, the move is part of efforts
aimed at getting more Nigerians into the insurance
net and boosting the culture of insurance among
citizens of Lagos State.
As a vehicle owner, you need to cooperate with these
agents because the Permanent Secretary of Lagos
State Ministry of Transportation, Mr. Sewedo Oluseyi
Whenu promised that officials of the state vehicle
inspection services would put the devices to effective
use.
NIA Chairman, Mr. Godwin Wiggle said that it is
regrettable that many motorists have failed to
appreciate the need to obtain genuine insurance
documents from registered insurance companies
and have kept the culture of patronising fake
insurance documents dealers in spite of the dangers
attached.
Wiggle said that the devices were configured to assist
the vehicle inspection officers in the effective
discharge of their duties, adding that with the right
attitude, Nigerians will further appreciate the value of
having genuine insurance documents instead of
patronising touts.
Benefits of the NIID
The NIID will provide protection to Nigerians against
the dangerous activities of insurance fraudsters,
particularly the third party motor insurance
certificate racketeers. The database, therefore, is one
instrument that will become very handy in the control
or fight towards the eradication of fake insurances in
Nigeria. The database would facilitate easy collation
and dissemination of statistical information relating
to all classes of insurance in Nigeria and also serve
as a platform for easy identification of genuine
insurances by security agencies and other relevant
authorities.
Experts’ opinion
The NIID, according to experts, is a good step in the
right direction to guard against forgeries and frauds
in the insurance industry.
Recall that the NIID project was complimentary to
NAICOM’s drive to enforce all relevant laws to rid the
nation of fake insurers and insurances.
Over the past four years, NAICOM had embarked on
various campaigns aimed at sanitizing and
eradicating fake insurances from the system through
its Market Development and Restructuring Initiative
(MDRI) this is because of the menace of fake
insurances in the country which has over the years
deprived the nation of the socio-economic benefits
inherent in genuine insurance transactions. The NIID
is of great benefit to all stakeholders in the insurance
industry. Such stakeholders include but not limited to
the various government at all levels, policyholders,
shareholders of insurance firms and would-be
investors.
Former President of the Nigerian Council of
Registered Insurers Brokers (NCRIB), Mrs. Laide
Osijo said, “NIID was borne out of the need to extend
the frontiers of interaction between the insurance
industry and strategic stake holders in the society.”
Managing Director of Lasaco Assurance Plc, Mr.
Olusola Ladipo-Ajayi said the NIID project was an
information technology-based system that would
facilitate easy collation and dissemination of
statistical and other information relating to insurance
on one hand, and also serves as a vehicle for easy
identification of genuine insurance documents by
relevant authorised persons.
Some of the benefits of the NIID include monitoring
and authenticating insurance transaction documents;
reducing red tape and corruption by integrating with
the vehicle registration system of the Federal Road
Safety Corps (FRSC), police and other relevant
government agencies; ensuring easy access to
statistical data for effective decision making.
Right now, policy holders whose vehicle insurance
details have been uploaded can check their motor
insurance status via SMS and the internet. Source
http://vanguardngr.com/2015/08/why-you-should-
allow-verification-of-your-vehicle-insurance-
certificate/