Fatimat Haliru —

The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has urged building contractors and house owners to embrace public liability insurance as a guide against loss of lives and property.

Public liability insurance is a part of the general insurance system that protects the purchaser from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims. It protects the insured if the purchaser is sued for claims that come within the coverage of the insurance policy.

Many collapsed buildings in recent years have no form of insurance coverage.

Last week, the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and insurance brokers had not identified the insurance company that underwrite the recent building that collapsed in Lagos.

Before now, insurance operators led by NIA, had partnered with the Lagos State Safety Commission to address frequent building collapse in the state through digitalising compulsory occupier’s liability insurance.

At an event, the Director-General of the Lagos State Safety Commission, Lanre Mojola, raised the need for event centres, schools, bakeries and restaurants to key into the initiative.

He disclosed that based on data captured, 480 incidents of building collapses have been recorded in the state in the past 44 years.

Lagos State government had expressed its readiness to introduce compulsory insurance to owners of buildings across the state to address the increasing incidence of building collapse.

The President, NCRIB, Rotimi Edu, in a statement made available to the Guardian, at the weekend, described the Banana Island building collapse as a case of negligence by the building contractors who undertook the construction.

“Though no casualty was reported, the collapse building, brings to question, the continuous recalcitrance of building contractors to adhere to existing regulatory prescriptions concerning public buildings in the country,” Edu said.

Edu highlighted the sensitivity of public buildings, making it necessary for builders and owners to imbibe insurance policies such as Public Liability, Contractors All Risk (CAR) and other mandated policies contained in sections 64 and 65 of the Insurance Act.

“If these insurance policies had been in place, the risk of total loss incurred by the owners of the collapsed buildings would have been greatly reduced,” he noted.

Edu advised the Lagos State government to expedite investigation into cause of the building collapse and urgently make public its findings and actions to be taken to avert future infractions.