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Chuks Udo Okonta
There is fear that the joy of annuitants under the Defunct Niger Insurance Plc who are presently being paid by a Pension Fund Custodian (PFC) may soon be cut short.
This is because Inspenonline has gathered that the PFC may soon run out of fund as there is no new fund to keep the scheme afloat due to the withdrawal of the firm’s operating licence.
The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) had at an interactive session recently held in Lagos, told journalists that at the annuity fund has been ring-fenced and being managed by a pension fund custodian.
Investigations by Inspenonline revealed that though the annuitants are few, there is possiblity of drawing down the fund as new funds are not injected.
A person who is in know about the business told this medium that the possibility of drawing down the fund is high, adding that the best option to sustain the annuity payment is for the regulators to cede the portfolio to a life insurance company.
NAICOM has in 2022 withdrew the operating license of Niger Insurance, a decision which was challenged by company’s investors.
According to NAICOM, a verdict was recently given in its favour, which had put a seal on the cancellation of the operating license.
The former Commissioner for Insurance, Sunday Thomas, while giving insights on how NAICOM worked assiduously to save Niger Insurance Plc from failing, said NAICOM provided the firm an opportunity to re-invent, but it was not able to do so.
“You are aware that we have cancelled some licences since I came in. It was because we have given them opportunity to re-invent themselves, but they were not able. When that was not forthcoming, we had no choice than to do the needful. So, we have institutions that the moment you are not able to meet your liability to the public, it becomes a concern,” he posited at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja during his time as CFI.
