The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) in collaboration with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) will next year introduce guidelines that will require concessionaires of government assets under Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements to procure insurance covers.

The guidelines which will be released by the first quarter of 2025, was the highlight of agreement reached by the two commissions when the Commissioner for Insurance of NAICOM, Mr. Olusegun Omosehin, led a management delegation on a visit to the Director-General of the ICRC, Dr Jobson Ewalefoh, in Abuja, on Monday.

According to a statement by the ICRC, the DG said that strategic assets of the Federal Government must be insured, adding that insurance of PPP assets was not optional but mandatory as stipulated in Section 7(2)a of the ICRC Act (2005) which provides, "the project proponent or contractor shall undertake appropriate insurance policy on the concession with an insurance company approved by the National Insurance Commission.

"So, we have to ensure that the concessionaires obtain the appropriate insurance policy that they are required by law to undertake in line with the value of the asset. So, working in collaboration with NAICOM, we would be able to determine if the right insurance policy has been obtained."

The ICRC, he added, was already requesting concessionaires of new PPP projects to provide proof of insurance cover for the projects they were about to undertake and that the ICRC would work out modalities in conjunction with NAICOM to ensure compliance by concessionaires of ongoing projects that were yet to procure insurance for the project.

On his part, the CEO of NAICOM said, "One key thing that made this meeting possible was the position of the DG on insurance of PPP assets when he met with the Interior Minister. This was the origin of our desire to meet with ICRC.

"We are here to forge that partnership that will enable that provision in the law to be enforced. I hope NAICOM and ICRC will use this opportunity to forge a quick alliance in ensuring that the partnership works as well as ensuring that the compliance part of the law works."

He added that NAICOM was willing to offer effective training to ICRC officers who would be part of the technical committee to work out the details of the guidelines.