Aminat Yahaya —
National Insurance Commission, (NAICOM) yesterday said it adhered to due process in acquiring a N4 billion uncompleted property meant to house its academy and offices.
The Head, Corporate Communications & Market Development, Mr. AbdulRasaq Salami, in a rebuttal, said the request for the acquisition was channeled through the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed who presented it at last Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Before then, Salami said NAICOM obtained a “No Objection” from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) following the valuation of the property by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.
He further explained that all documents relating to the property clearly state that the property was in an unfinished state.
The statement added that ”adequate due diligence was conducted on the property for acquisition and all relevant approvals were secured by the Commission.
“Provision was made in the 2022 approved annual budget of the Commission for the purpose of acquiring the building for the Commission.
The building is to serve the dual purpose of housing the newly established NAICOM Academy, an initiative of the incumbent leadership of the Commission, to address knowledge gap in the insurance sector regulation and supervision in Nigeria, Africa and beyond and also serve as the new head office of the Commission.
“In order to address the problem of low insurance penetration, entrench the culture of insurance in every part of the country and enhance the effectiveness of its surveillance in all the geopolitical zones of the country, the expansion of the Commission’s infrastructural facilities is inevitable thus the Commission requires a befitting Office accommodation to curtail any future office space crises.
The statement further said that the clarification became necessary to detonate all erroneous reports meant to mislead the public and tarnish the image of NAICOM.
