By Ginika Okoye
Abuja, – The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has reiterated the need for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to key into the micro insurance policy to mitigate the burden of loss during crisis in business.
Mr Rasaaq Salami, the spokesperson for the commission, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.
Salami was reacting to the increasing number of fire outbreak in some markets and the safety of small businesses across the country.
He disclosed that micro insurance packages were simple, affordable and accessible.
He said the commission had also unbundled the micro insurance from conventional insurance companies to primarily cover small and medium businesses in the country.
Salami said the commission had also issued licence to three micro insurance companies to offer the services.
He said the essence of the micro insurance was to ensure that MSMEs and individuals at the lowest level were financially included and had access to insurance to cover their businesses.
The spokesperson noted that the micro insurance had been segmented into three parts of unit, state and national micro insurance.
According to him, the unit micro insurance will only operate within a specified area like Wuse market, the state will be operational in a state like Abia, while the national company will operate nationwide.
“Initially, we have conventional insurance companies having to open a unit or department for micro insurance, which is called window operation.
“With the review of the guidelines in 2018, we decided that there was need to have stand-alone companies primarily focused on micro insurance and these companies, we segmented into three parts.
“We have the unit, state micro insurance and national insurance companies.
“For the state micro insurance companies, we have licensed two companies, Goxi and Casava micro insurance companies both operational in Lagos State.
“We are in the process of registering Shagamu micro insurance and we have an insurance company, which is at the final stage of obtaining licence for a national insurance.
“I believe that by the time more of these companies become operational then, people and small businesses will be better covered,’’ he assured.
Salami said that apart from the micro insurance, there was also fire insurance offered by conventional insurance companies for markets.
He advised traders to seek the services of insurance agents and brokers while trying to buy into any insurance package to be properly guided on the type of insurance to take.
