By Ngozi Onyeakusi—The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters, Hon. Darlington Nwokocha has assured that Insurance Act, 2003 (Amendment Bill) which is 70 per cent completed by the National Assembly has the capacity to revamp insurance industry for speedy growth.
Nwokocha, who spoke today at a sensitization workshop on insurance for Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) held today in Lagos, said the bill when pass into law will boost insurance business which will in turn benefit all Nigerians.
He assured that all insurance issues being encountered by many will be a thing of the past.
According to him, the compulsory insurances which include Motor Third Party Insurance and Insurance of Public Buildings.
Others which are Employee Group Life Insurance, Health Care Professional Indemnity, Insurance of Buildings under Construction, Aviation Third Party Insurance and Marine Insurance will equally be beneficial to the industry and the country at large.
He commended Lagos State Government for its effort in promoting insurance Penetration in the state.
He noted that Lagos State will serve as a sample state for insurance compliance.”I want to congratulate Lagos State Government because what you are doing in the area of insurance and insurance Penetration is encouraging. We are going use Lagos State as a sample of where insurance works”, he assured.

Ealier in his Welcome address, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas said that workshop meant to educate and enlighten the MSMEs on the benefits of insurance .
According to him, the importance of MSMEs to national development cannot be overstated, adding that it is the fulcrum of a nation’s growth and development.
He noted that MSMEs form the superstructure to stimulate mass enterprise growth and serve as a source of livelihood for the base of the pyramid population across all economies be it underdeveloped, emerging or frontier markets.
According to him, in Nigeria, all development interventions of the current administration have had components focused on enabling these MSMEs sprout and flourish but unfortunately, with little or no insurance content to deal with associated risks and  ensure sustainability and guarding them against failure.

Consequently, he said the MicroInsurance and Takaful were two insurance offerings carefully designed for affordability and inclusiveness to bring Insurance within the reach of one of the nations most valued contributors to the economy-the MSMEs. This will support the sector for speedy recovery when unforeseen situations occur.
NAICOM, according to him has undertaken to educate and drive enrollment for those products through the sensitization workshop.
“The workshop has so far made stops at three cities in Nigeria; Kano, Kaduna and Abuja pulling MSMEs from these cities and their environs”, he said.