By Kehinde Ibrahim, Lagos
THE management of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has denied allegations that the government agency deceived President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Executive Council into approving the purchase of a new office building in Abuja, clarifying that due process was followed before acquiring the new property.
Reacting to the report published by a national daily recently, the Commission affirmed that it actually, through the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, presented to the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, 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.
NAICOM stressed that “All documents relating to the property clearly state that the property was in an unfinished state.”
Before the FEC approval, the Commission stated that it 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.
Besides, NAICOM said” Adequate due diligence was conducted on the property for acquisition and all relevant approvals were secured by the Commission.”
NAICOM added that” Provision was made in the 2022 approved annual budget of the Commission for the purpose of acquiring the building for the Commission.”
The commission emphasised that” 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 the 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”.
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, NAICOM pointed out that 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.
NAICOM further noted that “This clarification has 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.”
The newspaper had alleged that the Commission deceived President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Executive Council into approving the purchase of a new office building in Abuja.
It was also stated in the publication that the Commission said it was buying a “ready to use magnificent office complex” rather than an uncompleted building.
