The House of Representatives is currently investigating no fewer than 25 insurance companies operating in the country for various financial infractions, the Chairman, House Sub-Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, Kwamoti Laori, disclosed this on Monday.
The lawmaker who represents Demsa/Numan/Lamurde Federal Constituency, Adamawa State, stated this during a meeting with the management of the insurance companies at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja.
The meeting, according to him, was convened following the receipt of a petition on infractions by the insurance companies, which has led to the Nigerian government losing significant revenue from the companies.
He said that the companies were invited to either affirm the allegations or debunk them.
He said, “This committee is saddled with the responsibility of treating a petition based on infractions from these insurance companies in respect of the operations and non-compliance with certain statutory provisions.
“And of course, those infractions have resulted in the Federal Government losing hundreds of billions of revenue from these insurance companies. That is why they are invited and each of them has been served and given the extent of their liability. We want them to agree or debunk those liabilities.
“That is the essence of all these things we are doing here to ensure that what is due to the Federal Government comes to it through the operations of these private entities.”
Laori noted that aware of the move by the committee to swing into action, some of the companies ran to court in search of an injunction to stop the panel from sitting.
“Some of the companies ran to court and have served the House with court process. It’s for us and the House to sit down and look at the process,” he said.
He pointed out that heading for the court would be an attempt by the companies to “Throw a spanner into the works of the National Assembly,” adding that the panel would insist that the Chief Operating Officers of the affected companies appear in person to field questions concerning the allegations.
The committee chairman blamed the National Insurance Commission for not doing its job, saying, “NICON has a supervisory role in respect of that and I’m not holding brief for them. But, I think if they are doing their job, we will not be here talking about this. So, I expect them to sit up.
“It’s because there are certain lapses somewhere that we are doing what we are doing here in terms of investigation.”
Seventeen of the companies that went to court sent their lawyer, Mr Abimbola Kayode, to represent them at the hearing.
