The Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association, Mr. Olusola Ladipo-Ajayi, has said that the electronic insurance certificate, which the association is about to officially inaugurate, will bring an end to the operations of fake certificate sellers.

He said this during an interview on the Nigerian Insurance Industry Data base, which NIA had been developing.

He said, “It is already being test run and we are very happy that everybody can confirm the authencity of his or her policy by email, or through sms.”

According to him, motorists and law enforcement agencies will be able to identify the genuine insurance certificates because It will give the details of a vehicle, and authenticate the certificate the motorist is holding.

He added that the association was equipping the law enforcement agencies with telephones, which would help them to be able to verify genuine certificates.

He said, “To facilitate this, we are also giving some hand tools verifiers, to the law enforcement agencies in large number, that will cover all the states of the federation and the federal capital, so that they can verify your data.”

However, he noted that a driver would still need to take his insurance certificate with him when on the road because the law requires that it should be taken along.

According to him, what the NIID provides is a verification that helps to verify the authentic certificates because the law requires that it is only registered insurance companies in Nigeria that can issue valid motor insurance certificate.

While encouraging motorists to avoid buying fake certificates, he said that with genuine certificates, they would be able to get claims from insurance companies when losses occur.

Source: Punch/Nike Poopola