Remove bidding fee, NCRIB advises FG

The National Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has asked the Nigerian government to prevent its agencies from collecting license renewal fees from its members.

According to President of NCRIB, Mrs Bola Onigbogi during her investiture as the 20th President of the Council, the collection of these fees is against the drive of the current government to increase the level of ease of doing business in the country and is completely unfavourable to her members.

“One of the challenges of the sector is the issue of government institutions and parastatals requesting for prohibitive non-refundable bidding fees from brokers. We must know that insurance brokers are not contractors but professional service providers like doctors and lawyers, who only offer services. Asking them to pay huge bidding fees is inappropriate. If at all, the fees should be marginal.

“Another issue is government agencies charging fees to recertify documents issued by them to brokers such as licenses, certificates of incorporation, taxpayers and so on. This is purely inimical, and at crossroad with the ease of doing business intention of President Buhari’s administration,” Bola Onigbogi.

Mrs Onigbogi acknowledged that the biggest buyer of insurance is the government and advocated for quick payment premiums already budgeted for which could help grow the industry and motivate development in the national economy.

Also present at the investiture was the Deputy Chairman, House Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Judiciary, Omowunmi Ogunlola, who said the insurance industry had image problems and poor public awareness about its services and benefits of its services.

Ogunlola, who delivered the investiture lecture titled: “Building Image, Sustaining legacies,” decried that Nigerians had poor understanding of roles of insurance brokers.

“Many potential clients often see Insurance brokers as people who want to complicate and confuse them in the already complex arrangement.”

The Deputy Chairman tasked the NCRIB to build a better image for the Council, as a buoyant image for the institution will play a catalytic role in Nigeria’s financial ecosystem.