Management says N4bn unfinished building is for Naicom Academy, office accommodation, approvals granted

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The Management of the National Insurance Commission, Naicom, has broken silence on the N4 billion property meant for Naicom Academy and office accommodation with relevant approval granted to Commission

The Commission in a Statement released today by the Head of Corporate Communications & Market Development, Mr. AbdulRasaq Salami, said the clarification become necessary to clear any doubt in the minds of the public with respect to the process followed by the Commission in its efforts at acquiring the property..
Naicom said the news making rounds in the media did not give a though picture of the fact well, stating that the management of the Commission through the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning presented to the Federal Executive Council presided over by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR an Unfinished property for approval to be acquired as NAICOM Academy and office accommodation following the approval by the immediate past Governing Board of the Commission.
According to the Management, “The building is to serve the dual purpose of housing the newly established NAICOM Academy which is an initiative of the present leadership of the Commission to address knowledge gap in the insurance sector regulation and supervision not only in Nigeria but across Africa and beyond and also serve as the new head office of the Commission”.
Naicom, however, did not deny the fact the property is an uncompleted building but said it has all approval and knowledge of the former board of the Commission.
“All documents relating to the property clearly state that the property was in an
unfinished state”
“The  Commission had prior the FEC approval, obtained a “No Objection” from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) following the valuation of the property by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing”
“Adequate  due diligence was conducted on the property for acquisition and all relevant approvals were secured by the Commission”
The provisions for the building, according to Naicom, was made in the 2022 approved annual budget of the Commission for the purpose of acquiring the building for the Commission.
The Commission said it is the desire of the government to ensure that the insurance industry is well structured across the Geo political zones and Africa.
” In order to address the problem of low insurance penetration, entrench the culture of insurance in every part of the country and enhance the effectiveness of its surveillance in all the geopolitical zones of the country, the expansion of the Commission’s infrastructural facilities is inevitable thus the Commission requires a befitting Office accommodation to curtail any future office space crises”.