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Nigeria: Why NICON Interim Mgt Tenure Was Extended - NAICOM
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Vanguard (Lagos)
14 May 2008
Posted to the web 14 May 2008
Patience Saghana
Lagos
Against speculations that the interim management of NICON Insurance has resigned, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has cleared the air on the prolonged stay of the acting management, just as it explained why the temporary management of NICON Insurance headed by Mrs Funmi Babington-Ashaye is still in office.
Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Fola Daniel in a press briefing in Lagos recently explained that the workload in NICON Insurance was far beyond what the interim management could accomplished within the initial three months appointment hence the commission has to prolong the stay of the interim management.
He stated, "We wanted to work on NICON for 90 days but we could not finish the job in 90 days. The two companies are very important and they cannot be allowed to go under. Some of the actions we have taken on NICON and Nigeria Re are to protect the shareholders.
A three-man interim management was appointed in November last year to oversee the affairs of the company pending when the whole crisis that ensued from the recapitalisation of insurance companies which led to re-verification exercise of last year.
The two others include, George Onekhena who was with Lion of Africa Insurance Plc as Executive Director for finance and Mallam Sheik Yaya, former Managing Director of Yankari Insurance as Executive Director, technical.
Insurance commissioner said, "The interim management have been in office for three months longer that we envisaged because the letter we gave the interim management was for three months which meant that we envisaged a very short stay but the workload we discovered in NICON was far beyond what we had planned and that necessitated a slight prolongation of the stay of the interim management".
Addressing journalist, Daniel recalled, "You all know how we came to this crossroad on NICON Insurance and Nigeria Re. We were very clear on the issue and we stated them very clearly."
According to him, "We have gone there and we have seen and we have tired to remedy quite a lot of things, we have paid quite a lot of claims yet we are not making advertisement of them. It is not normal. It is not ethical for an insurance company to pay claim and parade the claimant on the pages of newspapers and television stations".
The implication of that he explained, "The company is putting the life of the claimant in jeopardy. If l parade a man of having collected N10 million you can imagine that armed robbers in his vicinity will hold a board meeting on the man and go after the claimant. So, a lot of arbitration that will found, we have substantially dealt with it.
He said that the insurance regulator And we are not as worried as we were in November last year. I think the ugly saga about NICON and Nigeria Re is being brought to some conclusions. We are moving towards some resolution and very soon the press will be properly abreast.
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We had to stay longer because we can do the work half-done otherwise the purpose of our intervention would have been useless".
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