MORE employers have been embracing the group life insurance policy made mandatory for all employers to arrange for their employees as stipulated in Section 9(3) of the Pension Reform Act 2004. Section 9(3) of the Pension Act provides that “In addition to the rates specified in sub-section (1) of this section, employers shall maintain life insurance policy in favour of the employee for a minimum of three times the annual total emolument of the employee.” In the latest report released by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the commission stated that “The pension industry recorded an increase in the number of organisations implementing the group life insurance policy as the number of complying organisations increased by 564 from 858 as at the end of the second quarter of 2012 to 1,422 in the third quarter. This represented an increase of 65.73 per cent.” PenCom also informed that out of the 581 private sector employers it requested to provide evidence of compliance with group life insurance policy during the quarter, 396 employers provided evidences of providing group life insurance policy for their employees. An analysis by PenCom further shows that the commercial activities sector topped the list of organisations that implemented the insurance policy in the third quarter at 233, followed by the manufacturing sector at 60, Financial Institutions (7), Educational Institutions (1), Construction (42), Oil and Gas (0), Hospitality (31), Government (0), and Pension Operators (3). This development took place at a time when the Federal Government was alleged not to have paid the remaining 59 per cent of premium on Group Life Insurance Policy arranged for its employees in 2012. The President of Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Mrs. Laide Osijo, therefore appealed to the government to pay the outstanding premium and assist the insurance industry to avoid further accumulation of unpaid premium. “As it stands, only 41 per cent of 2012 premium on Group Life Insurance Policy for Federal Government workers has been paid, the remaining 59 per cent is yet to be paid,” the NCRIB boss said. She added that this situation has made many insurance companies to discountenance claims during the period under review in view of the law on “No Premium No Cover” now being strictly enforced by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM). Pilot had reported that it was only in the month of November 2012 that the Federal Government paid 41 per cent of the group life insurance premium to the affected insurance companies.
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