Just as the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) is set to begin the enforcement of third party insurance on owners/operators of motorcycles nationwide under the Insurance Act, several Lagos operators have rejected the move.
Some of them that spoke to Business Hilights described the Insurance idea as unworkable as over 95 per cent of their motorcycles are not registered or with genuine particulars upon which additional documentation can be generated.
One of the Okada operators who gave his name as Mohammed said “We Okada riders have been suffering severe tax payments both to state and local government and area boys’. Now the federal government is coming. If they want us to pay for Insurance, the government must allow us operate everywhere in the state. There should be no embargo on any kind of road or areas.
Mohammed vowed that his members have already mapped out refusal strategy if they ask us to pay for insurance.
Another of his colleague who did not want his name on print queried what Okada operators will gain from third party insurance scheme when even car owners do not gain anything but waste of money to insurance companies.
NAICOM averred that N1,000 would be paid as an annual premium by each motorcycle operator to secure the compulsory insurance cover.
In a circular released by the federal agency, NAICOM said “All insurance operators are directed to henceforth comply with the existing approved premium rates for all compulsory classes of insurance.”
The premiums to be paid on a private vehicle remained N5,000; while a commercial vehicle (for goods) and commercial vehicle (a staff bus) would pay N7,500 each.
Other charges on commercial vehicles (trucks) as N25,000; motorcycle (power bike and official ride), N1,000; while commercial vehicles (road/premises risks) and special type (ambulance/ hearses) would attract N5,000 each.
The Commissioner for Insurance, Alhaji Mohammed Kari, had during a recent delegation of the commission to Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, said that NAICOM would meet with the state governors on the implementation of the compulsory insurance policies for Okada operators.
A sources in the commission said the new idea came up from findings that motorcycle operators in Nigeria may have grossed over 10 million.
