Insurers laud measures to classify service providers

OPERATORS of the nation's insurance industry have commended the steps taken by Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to classify professional bodies and contractors in the provision of government services.The Guardian gathered that the Bureau last week met with Federal Consultants, Service providers, industry regulators and professional bodies for an input into the planned categorisation and classification of contractors, to ensure that the nation's procurement reform process complies with international best practices.Industry chieftains told The Guardian that BPP initiative may partly have been influenced by the petition from the insurance industry and represented through the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) to the government, in the petition, they argued that they were professional risk providers and not contractors, and as such should not be made to pay procurement fees for the risk protection they are providing.The President of NCRIB, Mrs. Laide Osijo, who confirmed the BPP initiative at Brokers member evening in Lagos said, 'in ensuring that insurance brokers are treated as pure professionals that they are, the Council has taken steps to dissuade corporate institutions of government, who were in the habit of mandating brokers to pay bidding fees as a condition precedent to their engagement for their insurance services.'In order to put an end to the discriminating procurement fee, both the NIA and NCRIB directed member companies recently to apply for the insurance contracts without paying the procurement fees.According to the Self-Regulatory Bodies (SRB), the measure was intended to free the industry from discriminatory procurement policies by organisations seeking insurance protection.The NIA said, 'Insurance is a risk management mechanism in which for a relatively little sum, protection is provided for specified assets or liabilities. It is unthinkable that the industry, which is being invited to provide protection for the assets of your organisations will have to effect payment of fee before being considered.
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