By Nike Popoola
Thursday, 11 Nov 2010
If local insurance companies are allowed to voluntarily beef up their capital, rather than be subjected to forced regulation, the local content objective of the government will be achieved faster.
The Managing Director, Niger Insurance Plc, Mr. Justus Uranta, said this during an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Lagos on Tuesday.
Uranta said, â€ÂÂWhat I am saying is that government should encourage self regulation rather than a coaxed, or forced regulation that compels people to do what they have to do, without actually looking at their indices, to see whether they can actually carry what is required.â€ÂÂ
He explained that if the local players were encouraged to voluntarily beef up their capital, they would be able to sit down, look at certain indices and be able to do what would be sustainable to their operations.
According to him, if this procedure is followed, the result will be long lasting.
The Niger Insurance boss, who is a major player in the oil and gas business, explained that by this, companies would improve on their capital base and local content would be more domiciled within the country.
The insurer, however, noted that the world was a global village and therefore, risks had to be spread world wide.
He said that because all risks could not be placed within the country alone, the stakeholders needed to seek international support and collaboration to move the economy forward.
Uranta said that when the government observed that the foreign companies had been dominating the local resources in the past, it decided to encourage local insurance players to participate in their own resources.
He said, â€ÂÂAnd to that extent, we are happy that the government has taken this step, first of all, they have given a window of 40 per cent with the hope of increasing it to 70 per cent, and it is an encouragement to local players.â€ÂÂ
The insurer said that the last consolidation exercise in the insurance sector helped to boost the industry‘s capital base.
Source: Punch