NAIC settles #80m claim #nigeria

The Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) has paid N80 million to the Savannah Sugar Company, Numan. The payment was to compensate the company for losses suffered when fire and floods ravaged a total of 458 hectares of cultivated farmland owned by the company recently. The Managing Director of NAIC, Mr. Bode Opadokun, made this known in a statement, saying the sugar company cultivated over 4,863 hectares of land and has consistently paid the premium for its insurances. He stated that the affected farmland is located along the Numan-Gombe road in the North eastern part of the country, adding that N32.39 million was advanced to the company in December 2013 for the fire outbreak which ravaged over 194 hectares of the farmland. According to him, another N47.23 million recently paid to the company as compensation for about 265 hectares. The NAIC boss described the sugar company as a frontline client of the corporation, saying NAIC would, at all times respond promptly to genuine claim after due diligence has been carried out with a view to showcasing and sustaining good corporate reputation. He said he believed in prompt claims settlement and adequate payments, which he explained are key elements of good and credible insurance firms. "NAIC strives to be a role model in claims payment given the peculiar nature of its specialised agricultural insurance obligation to all categories of insured farmers nationwide," Opadokun assured. He added that will assert and sustain its competitive advantage in the industry, as it is being reengineered and strategically repositioned to expand its clientele base across the country. He also reassured stakeholders in the corporation of a reinvigorated NAIC for optimal service delivery to clients nationwide. He therefore, tasked the company's staff members to be responsive to clients' requests and expectations. "The success of the corporation is a function of the client satisfaction with NAIC effectiveness and good service delivery in the discharge of its primary mandate of agricultural risks underwriting to all categories of farmers," he said. The need for a specialised agricultural insurance company to provide insurance cover to farmers was informed by government's concern over the vacuum created due to the unwillingness of conventional Insurers to accept agricultural risks, which they considered too risky. This led to the establishment of the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Scheme on 15th of November, 1987 and subsequently NAIC.