Monday, January 14, 2019 03.36PM / By
Nike Popoola of Punch
The
Nigeria Insurers Association has introduced an Unstructured Supplementary
Service Data that motorists can use to verify the authenticity of their vehicle
insurance certificates.
During
the official introduction of the USSD code in Lagos, the Chairman, NIA, Mr Tope
Smart, said the industry had registered over three million vehicles on its
Nigerian Insurance Industry Database.
Smart said, “The USSD is a Global System for mobile
communication technology used to send text between a mobile phone and an application
programme in the network. It works independent of Internet connectivity. In
this instance, any mobile phone (not necessarily a smartphone) would
communicate with the NIID system to retrieve policy status whenever required.”
While explaining further, he said a motorist could send sms
on any network using the code “*565*11#.
He said motorist could verify their motor insurance for a
fee of N20 using “*565*11#” to any network without having Internet network on
the phone.
Smart said that the USSD represented another giant step
towards bringing insurance closer to the people and ultimately eliminating fake
insurance certificates in the market.
He recalled that in 2010, the association took a major step
towards eliminating fake insurance certificates in the market through the
introduction of the NIID.
The database, he added, went live in 2011 and insurance
policies obtained by motorists could be checked online on the Internet and
through dedicated hand-held devices.
He said the objective of the NIID was intended to serve as
an authentic database of the Nigerian insurance industry data, provide
qualitative statistics/analysis of the industry data; as a vehicle for easy
verification of genuine insurance certificates by all stakeholders; and to
reduce incidences of fraudulent insurance transactions especially for motor and
marine policies.
The chairman of the association said the industry had
continued to reap the benefits of the scheme.
Prior to the establishment of the platform, he said cloning and faking
of insurance certificates were a thriving business but the establishment of the
database had assisted the industry in reducing the incident of fake insurance
certificates in the market.
He said, “The platform has been enhanced to include stolen vehicles and
claims reporting modules in response to the challenges thrown up by actions of
suspected fraudsters that made multiple claims with the intent to defraud the
industry over the last few years.”
Smart noted that the NIID platform had been operational nationwide, but
with challenges in verification in areas with poor Internet coverage.
“Verification of motor certificates through the dedicated devices became
highly impaired due to the vicissitudes of Internet operations in the
hinterlands,” he added.
He said this led to the introduction of the USSD technology.
He said, “It is hoped that with the USSD, we would have fully overcome
the problems associated with the dedicated devices as it guarantees
uninterrupted service throughout the country and on all networks. Our existing
and prospective customers now have the opportunity to confirm the genuineness
of their respective policies at the time of purchase to avoid any embarrassment
should claims occur.”
According to him, the partners in the project are Nigeria Inter-Bank
Settlement System Plc, and Courteville Business Solutions Plc.
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