FG Eyes Compulsory Assets’ Insurance For MDAs
BY COBHAM NSA – Disturbed by incessant cases of fire incidents involving public property, it will soon become mandatory for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to insure all government assets in their possession.
Consequently, the Federal Government is set to issue a circular aimed at guiding the MDAs’ compliance with the directives when it comes into force.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha dropped the hints when the Governing Board of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) visited him in Abuja on Thursday.
Mustapha has therefore tasked the Commission to initiate a draft document for the purpose of guiding the SGF office to properly articulate contents necessary for the proposed circular.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary, General Services Office (GSO) Dr. Maurice Mbaeri, the SGF urged NAICOM to speedily work on forwarding a draft copy of the circular to his office, assuring that; “after its review and approval, the circular will be released to the MDAs” for implementation.
He further advised the Commission to ensure the draft circular reflects and covers all relevant areas of operations, with the assurance if the document meets the SGF’s expectations, appropriate directives would be issued to respective MDAs.
However, while expressing concern about over the declining budgetary allocation for insuring public assets, Dr Mbaeri noted that with the premium to be paid on such property centralized in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), “there is no way the HoS alone can cover insurance premium for all the MDAs.”
He therefore charged NAICOM to “write for the decentralization of insurance premium among the MDAs” as a way of effectively addressing existing and emerging challenges.
Earlier in his speech, the Chairman, Governing Board of NAICOM, Dr Abubarkar Sani pleaded with the SGF to support the Commission in executing a compulsory insurance scheme for all MDAs.
According to him, the Commission is interested in seeing all government assets insured to reduce financial uncertainty and make accidental loss manageable.
“We want the SGF to issue a circular or letter to all MDAs on the necessity of compulsory insurance”, he pleaded.
