The Chairman of Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Ganiyu Musa has expressed delight that the clog in the definition of capital for insurance and reinsurance companies, which had placed the operators and National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) in hitherto different camps has been dislodged by the Finance Act 2021.

Musa while addressing the ultimate press briefing in his two year tenure yesterday at the Insurers House Victoria Island, Lagos said the association was highly optimistic that a major milestone was achieved by the removal of the major encumbrance in the recapitalization exercise, expressed his delight, saying the restrictive definition of the regulator did not reflect international best practice and it was now gone with the wind.

His elation that the operators and NAICOM now stand on same platform was expressed in fair term, “We are delighted to report that with the President’s assent to the Finance Act 2021, we now have a more acceptable definition of capital. Prior to this time, the definition of capital in Insurance Act 2003 was defective and highly restrictive.

“We appreciate the Hon Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Commissioner for Insurance, KPMG and members of our Association for their support in seeing this process through. We are optimistic that this major milestone achievement has removed encumbrance on the recapitalization exercise,” he stated.

Also, Musa said the interface with government has continued to scale up and this was with a view to creating more understanding of the importance and role of insurance in the national economy.

“The leadership of the Association has been engaging representatives of Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget & National Planning, the office of the Head of Service and the Accountant General’s Office on the issue of provision of appropriate data and payment of premium on Insurance of government assets. Several meetings have been held with a view to resolving the data funding challenges. We are optimistic that all the areas of concern will be resolved as quickly as possible so that insurance companies can perform their statutory obligations in that regard,” he maintained.