By Ngozi Onyeakusi— To drive a vehicle on any Nigerian road, it is mandatory that you have an insurance at least Third Party Motor Insurance, as it is enshrined in the Insurance Act 2003.
As a result of this, most motorists have over the years resorted in patronising fake insurance certificate dealers. A practice which had over the years continued to tarnished the image of the industry. This is because fake insurance policies do not guarantee claims settlement at event of risk.

Interestingly, to put an end to this nefarious activities of these insurance fraudsters, the Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA) in collaboration with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) in some years back inaugurated the Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) aimed at wiping out fake certificates thereby pave way for genuine ones. Allows law enforcement agents and vehicle owners to verify the authenticity of motor certificates within a minute. The Police with the aid of NIID can detect wiith just a mobile phone if your certificate is real or fake.

The way it works is that with the aid of just a mobile phone, motor insurance policyholders can verify the genuineness of their policies online, using a dedicated code such as askniid.org or the USSD code *565*11#.
Any policy procured and which cannot be verified on the NIID portal is not genuine irrespective of place of purchase.

“Verifying the authenticity of your vehicle insurance policy on the NIID gives you peace of mind and assurance that your claim will be paid” , said the Director-General of NIA, Yetunde Ilori.

SUPERNEWS recalled that NAICOM had January 1, 2023, raised the rate for third-party motor insurance by 200 per cent from N5,000 to N15,000.

To this end, NAICOM said, the TPPD, which is the limit of claims an insured can enjoy on the policy, TPPD on private  vehicle is now N3 million; Goods vehicle and staff bus goes for N5 million, even as trucks/general cartage will now have maximum Claims limit of N3 million, adding that, the special types is N5 million; tricycle N3 million and N1 million for motorcycle.

Meanwhile, NAICOM said: “the new motor insurance premium rate increase third party motor insurance to N15, 000 for private, while commercial is N20, 000. Goods and staff busses are to pay N20,000 while truck pays N100,000 even as tricycle has been mandated to pay N5,000 and motorcycle goes for N3,000