Slain police officers’ relatives miss out on insurance claims

Widows and other dependants of police officer who died on duty as a result of the security challenges in the country since the beginning of this year may not get any insurance claims from underwriting firms.

Indications to this emerged on Friday as many of the insurance firms claimed that the Federal Government had not paid them any premium on the insurance cover taken for the police officers.

Some of the underwriters, who disclosed this to our correspondent, said all the policemen who had died since the beginning of this year were not covered by them because the ‘No premium, no cover’ policy forbade them from giving any policy on credit.

Although the Federal Government has budgeted money for the insurance cover of police officers, the underwriters said that the policy would only cover those on whom premium had been dully paid.

According to the insurers, the only set of police officer, receiving any form of settlement from them are those who died before 2013 and whose claims documentation had been completed.

Despite the reluctance of the police authorities, to continue with the Group Life Insurance cover, the Federal Government has gone ahead to include the cover under the insurance budget of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

The underwriters, who spoke with our correspondent, said that at a recent meeting with the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubabar, they read out the terms of the ‘No premium, no cover,’ which they said prevented them from providing cover for any party that failed to pay the premium in advance.

Section 50 of the Insurance Act, 2003 states, “The receipt of an insurance premium shall be a condition precedent to a valid contract of insurance and there shall be no cover in respect of an insurance risk, unless the premium is paid in advance.”

It added that any insurer that provided cover without having received premium in advance or premium receipt notification from the relevant insurance broker, would be liable to a penalty of N500,000 in respect of each cover granted, and in addition, the licence of the insurer might be suspended.

It is, however, not certain for now if the Federal Government is going to make any special arrangement to settle the relatives of the deceased  police officers, who died in service.

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Goni Aji, said N11bn was budgeted for the payment of insurance cover for all federal workers this year.

He also told our correspondent that the government was ready to pay the insurance firms the outstanding premium of N7bn for 2011 and 2012.

Aji said, “There will be cover for the workers this year. What we have in the appropriation bill for 2013 insurance cover is N11bn. The total outstanding premium for 2011 and 2012 is about N7bn; that is, N4bn for 2012 and N3bn for N2011.”

The HOS said the government prioritised the welfare of its employees and that insurance was a form of encouragement, especially to the families of deceased workers.

Aji, however, added that the full premium payment for this year would depend on revenue generation and inflow of the Federal Government.

In 2008, the Federal Government started the Group Life Insurance scheme for its entire workforce with the first premium of N4bn.

The statutory provision is contained in Section 9(3) of the Pension Reform Act, 2004, which states that an employer shall maintain life insurance policy in favour of the employee for a minimum of three times the annual total emolument of the employee.

This compensation is to be paid to the dependants of a deceased worker, according to the law.

Apart from attacks by armed robbers on the police officers, Boko Haram insurgents have caused the death of many officers, especially in the northern part of the country.

The Managing Director, African Alliance Insurance Plc, Mr. Alphonse Okpor, explained that the Nigerian Police Force had two types of insurance policies, which are the group life assurance and personal accident insurance.

While the group life pays claims to the dependants of a dead policeman, the personal accident caters for the injured.

Due to the increase in the number of casualties and injuries suffered by police personnel, Okpor said there was a need to improve their insurance package.