The Senate on Tuesday passed for third reading the Nigerian Insurance Reform Bill, 2014.
This followed the consideration and adoption of a report of the Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions presented by its Chairman, Sen. Adetokunbo Abiru (Lagos East), during plenary.
Senator Abiru explained that the bill consolidated various existing laws governing insurance in the country, including the Insurance Act (2003), Marine Insurance Act, Motor Vehicles (Third Party Insurance) Act, National Insurance Corporation of Nigeria Act, and Nigerian Reinsurance Corporation Act.
The lawmaker said another major objective of the bill was to enable Nigerians have a better future for themselves and the need for a robust legal and regulatory framework that would see insurance sector contributing positively to principal objective of financial assistance practices.
He said one significant provision in the bill is the reduction of the minimum capital requirement for reinsurance businesses from N45 billion to N35 billion.
Abiru emphasised that the bill’s goal is to create a robust legal and regulatory framework for the insurance sector, enabling it to contribute positively to Nigeria’s financial stability and economic growth.
“The existing rule-based supervision framework enabled by the current laws has become outdated. To make Nigeria a financial hub for Africa and one of the 20 largest economies in the world, there is an urgent need to adopt effective risk-based supervision within the insurance regulatory system,” the lawmaker said.
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