Members of the Association of Insurance Managers & CEOs of Insurance Brokers have called on the Delta State Internal Revenue Board (DBIR) to halt the usurpation of their role as insurance managers and brokers in Delta State.
Chairman and secretary of the association, Mr Ben Usiora and Mr Sangobiyi Seun, at a press briefing in Warri on Tuesday, said it was illegal for DBIR to engage the services of Richfield Technologies Ltd to handle vehicle licence renewal and third-party insurance renewal which is against Insurance Act 2003.
The practice is said to be ongoing in the state in spite of a letter from the Delta State government to DBIR to stop the unprofessional and unlawful practice of issuing third-party motor insurance licence through motor licensing offices to the unwary populace.
ALSO READ: BRT bus burns on third mainland bridge
The illegal practice on the part of DBIR is also said to be negatively affecting insurance business in terms of patronage.
Usiora, who briefed journalists along with heads of other insurance and broker firms in the state, reiterated that Third Party Motor Insurance Policy lies in the exclusive purview of insurance companies registered by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
“We want to state that insurance businesses are risk transfer mechanism from the insured (the customer) to the insurer (insurer companies) and when the insured incident occurs (in this wise motor accident), insurance companies are liable to pay compensation.
“It is disheartening that DBIR is playing pranks with the lives of Deltans because if there is any motor accident that involves lives, no compensation will be paid by the Board and Richfield Technologies Ltd, which is not an insurance practitioner, but a computer analyst/programmer,” the association noted.
Mr Usiora accused DBIR of collaborating with the consultant to fleece the uninformed populace by forcing them to pay a third-party motor insurance premium of N5,000 to the consultant’s bank account while it remits N1,000 to some failed insurance companies on their platform.
He, therefore, urged residents in Delta to directly approach licenced and professional insurance companies and brokers for genuine third party insurance cover with compensation of N1 million limit obtainable in offices in Warri and other parts of the state and not motor licensing offices.