By Favour Nnabugwu

As the the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme marks its 40 years of existence,  the brown card has paid 500,000,000 FCFA (NGN 334 million) compensation to Third party victims of road accident across member countries

Furthermore, to accentuate the successes of the Scheme, a total of 3,442 cross-border claim cases were successfully handled and settled in the year 2022 alone.

Mr Ganiyu Musa who double as the Chairman, Nigeria National Bureau as well as the Chairman of the Council of Bureaux revealed to that the First Zonal Meeting of the Scheme.

According to him, ” In May 2022, in Conakry; an amount of over 500,000,000 FCFA (NGN 334 million) was recorded as compensation to Third party victims of road accident”.

Apart from some of the achievements of the brown card, Musa reiterated the fact that Nigeria has the largest market in the ECOWAS Space with 22 member Companies presently.

The implementation of Automatic Ecowas Brown Card will bring on board all Motor Insurance Underwriting Companies. This Implies, that your local Insurance cover will be issued along with a Brown Card cover to ensure the ECOWAS Risk we are exposed to. This situation would be addressed further with the ongoing automation of the issuance of the Ecowas Brown Cards.

Other laudable pursuits for the Scheme before the end of Nigeria’s Tenure as Chairman, Mr. Ganiyu Musa, drives to set up a structured Database for Information retrieval that will fast-track Claims Payment, harmonize the Constitution of the entire Scheme and its Compensation regime, as well as set-up a Cross-border Regulatory Body.

Although the Automatic Brown Card regime is yet to be adopted in Nigeria, according to the Secretary General, Nigerian National Bureau; Mrs Henrietta Anyanna, the scheme has and is fulfilling the purpose for its establishment and has the capacity to unlock the full potential of the motor insurance industry if the resources are judiciously managed.

Anyanna drew  attention to the reality, that Claims worth more than =N=84 million have been paid to Nigerian Third-Party victims of Accidents as at December 31st, 2021, even in the absence of an Automatic Ecowas Brown Card regime.

“Imagine what the situation will be like, after the official implementation of the Automatic Brown Card in Nigeria.”

Also, motorist covered by the scheme are well treated as if the basic Insurance policy were underwritten with a company operating in the country visited by the motorist or through which he/she is transiting.

It was designed as a common scheme for the settlement of claims arising from accidents in the course of the free movement of goods and persons within the ECOWAS sub-region.

The Brown Card Scheme facilitates prompt and fair settlement of claims to road accident victims caused by motorist outside their country of residence.

In addition, the scheme facilitates and provides financial guarantee to Ecowas Community Motorists and their vehicles within the sub region. This scheme is similar to the Green Card In Europe.

Ecowas Brown Card was adopted as a Specialized Institution of the Ecowas Commission. Automatic Ecowas Brown Card was introduced and made Compulsory for all vehicles within the ECOWAS Space. Indeed, the adoption of the Automatic Ecowas Brown card made it a variable driver of Economic growth and Integration within the Ecowas Space.

The Automatic Brown Card further enhanced: The Inflow of funds generated will serve the interest of all Stakeholders; most specially the Insurance Companies and provide adequate Resources to effect Fair and Prompt Payment of Claims – a key objective of the scheme.