National Daily

NIIA takes over VISER from NAICOM

Vehicle Insurance Sticker (VISER), a project of National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), has been transferred to Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA). In a statement signed by NAICOM's Manager Corporate Services, Mr Michael Umeh, on behalf of Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Fola Daniel, NAICOM made known its plan to relinquish production and supply of the VISER stickers, the production of which was embroiled in controversy.

VISER sticker, a testimonial of authentic vehicle insurance certificate was introduced in January 2004 by NAICOM to all motorists and motorcyclists in Nigeria as a way of waging war against procurement of fake motor insurance certificates and making sure that genuine insurance generate more premium income. But the programme had run into hitches since then.

Before the programme became problematic, NIA had argued at its inception that it was outside the purview of NAICOM to produce VISER stickers for insurance firms.

NAICOM had however stated, “VISER should be revisited but not a project of NAICOM. It should be domiciled with the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) which will determine its production, the cost and distribution being the operators”. Also NAICOM will provide the necessary regulatory support to ensure that whatever is done in that direction is the interest of Nigerians and the growth of Nigerian insurance industry.”

VISER is a concept born in controversy. After its initial production in January 2004, by the then Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Oladipo Bailey, its implementation date was postponed three times to produce a large quantity of the stickers. But Mr Bailey also at this time was alleged to have inflated the cost of production of a unit from N39 to N50. This then brought the project to a standstill.

Bailey's successor, Mr Okechukwu Chukwulozie, promised to ensure successful execution VISER project, but he too had various challenges to cope with that prevented him from achieving this aim.

But at a Governing Council meeting of NIA in 2005, it decided to withdraw its support to NAICOM over the production VISER stickers because of NAICOM'S lack of control in prosecuting the project. NIA stated that it became necessary for it to take the decision because NAICOM lacks the statutory authority to prosecute such a purely commercial venture. It advised NAICOM to concentrate on its traditional function of regulating insurance practice in Nigeria.
As a third party insurance sticker, VISER is used for all vehicles and motor cycles operating on Nigerian roads irrespective of the class of motor insurance policy the holder has. It is obtainable only from registered insurance firms and serves as evidence of at least third party insurance certificate required by law enforcement agencies on vehicles that ply Nigerian roads.

The Police, Road Safety officials, Vehicle Inspection Officers and other vehicle law enforcement agents on Nigerian roads have been advised to demand VISER instead of insurance certificates. However under the law, any lorry, trailer, bus, tipper, car, tricycle, motorcycle and or both private and public that operates without VISER sticker commits an offence punishable by one year in prison or by payment of N250,000 the Federal Government of Nigeria warned recently.