The Director-General of the Nigerian Insurance Association (NIA), Bola Odukale, has advised vehicle owners to take up the Third Party Vehicle Insurance so that they will not end up in police net over accidents.
She made the comment in an interview monitored by THE WHISTLER in the wake of the enforcement of Third Party Vehicle Insurance by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) and the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
Both NPF and NAICOM began enforcement of the Third Party Insurance On February 1, 2025.
“The National Insurance Commission welcomes the announcement by the Nigeria Police Force that, effective 1st February 2025, there will be a nationwide enforcement of Third-Party Motor Insurance for all vehicles on Nigerian roads,” NAICOM said in January.
Less than 30 per cent of vehicles on the Nigerian road are insured according to NIA and INTELPOINT report.
Odukale explained that Third Party Vehicle Insurance is compulsory by the Acts of Parliament.
She added that it’s the basic form of insurance policy Nigerians could take for their motor vehicle.
The DG said, “It’s compulsory for you to have a vehicle on the road. But anyway, in Nigeria, you must have minimum of a third party insurance. And I think it’s for the benefit of everybody.
“We’re not even talking of just your own vehicle. We’re talking of even third parties on the road. We’re talking of bodily injury. We’ve seen situations where people get involved in accidents and come on to pick the person to the hospital.
“This other person is not able to. So, those are the things, the risks that everybody is exposed to out there on the road. It gives you protection against your own liability to third parties while on the road there.”
She cited a case where a driver hits another vehicle, adding that the next thing the driver did was to start begging.
The DG said, “So we will protect on that. Straight on you. They just kill me. Some drivers have found themselves locked up for days or months in cells simply because they hit another vehicle.
“That should not be if you have your Third Party Insurance in place because it covers your legal liability. At that point, to that third party that your vehicle has had an accident with.”
