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 Daily Independent Online.
* Wednesday, August 11, 2004.
Clients seek shift in VISER enforcement date
Stories by Bethel Obioma
Insurance
Correspondent, Lagos
Insurance consumers, who have bought the
compulsory motor insurance cover without getting the Vehicle Insurance
Stickers (VISER) have urged the government to postpone its September,
this year’s enforcement date to guard against their being victimised by
enforcement agencies.
Daily Independent gathered that a good number
of insurance clients had been placed on the “waiting list” of their
insurers, who are yet to take delivery of fresh VISER orders from the
sole printer, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
Some of those affected said they had been
receiving assurances from their insurers several months after purchasing
their motor insurance covers. They said the situation would place them at
the mercy of law enforcement agencies that are supposed to ensure
motorists’ compliance with the possession of VISER, as proof of, at
least, third party motor insurance from September.
“We have since bought our motor insurance
cover. The ball is now in the court of the insurance industry to ensure
that we get our VISER. Knowing what obtains in the nation, we will not
like to end up as victims of overzealous law enforcement agents,” they
said.
Insurance operators have since acknowledged the
scarcity of VISER and have been meeting with NAICOM to seek solution to
the impending crisis should VISER not be available to all clients by
September.
NAICOM has blamed the scarcity on the logistics
problems, surrounding the delivery of the expected new batch of insurance
stickers. The commission had introduced VISER to serve as the industry’s
joker towards ensuring the enforcement of, at least, third party motor
insurance cover for all types of vehicles and motorcycles.
However, the commission may now be faced with
the additional problem of the emergence of fake VISER stickers in the
Lagos metropolis.
This development, experts say, makes it
imperative for the commission and insurance operators to find a lasting
solution to the problem of ensuring adequate supply of VISER, as the
possession of distinct security features was one of the selling points of
VISER.
Less than one month to the enforcement date,
experts say one of the options open to the insurance regulatory body
would be to postpone the date. They raised the need for more awareness
campaigns and the printing of VISER to be done in collaboration with the
Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) for guidance as to the number of
registered vehicles in the nation.
They said this would help the
commission make valid projections for the ongoing demand for VISER in
light of the revived apparatus to enforce the compulsory motor insurance
law.
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