We Secured FEC Approval, No Objection Certificate For Proposed Office Complex–NAICOM

The National Insurance Commission on Thursday said that it secured the approval of the Federal Executive Council for its planned purchase of a property in Abuja.

The Commission said this while responding to media reports that the deal did not go through the laid down procurement procedures as set out in the Public Procurement Act.

Reports had broken last week that moves by the leadership of the National Insurance Commission headed by the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Olorundare Sunday Thomas to acquire a N5bn edifice to serve as its new headquarters was currently tearing management of the commission apart.

The property, according to reports, is an abandoned uncompleted hotel carcass located at the Gudu District of Abuja.

The deal was reported to be opposed by members of the top management team of NAICOM because it was claimed that such transaction will impact negatively on the welfare of workers particularly in terms of payment of salaries.

But reacting to the reports, NAICOM said in a statement that its management through the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, presented to the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, an unfinished property for approval.

The edifice, it stated, is to be acquired as NAICOM Academy and office accommodation following the approval by the immediate past Governing Board of the Commission.

It said, “All documents relating to the property clearly state that the property was in an unfinished state. The Commission had prior the FEC approval, obtained a ‘No Objection’ from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) following the valuation of the property by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

“Adequate due diligence was conducted on the property for acquisition and all relevant approvals were secured by the Commission. Provision was made in the 2022 approved annual budget of the Commission for the purpose of acquiring the building for the Commission.

“The building is to serve the dual purpose of housing the newly established NAICOM Academy which is an initiative of the present leadership of the Commission to address knowledge gap in the insurance sector regulation and supervision not only in Nigeria but across Africa and beyond and also serve as the new head office of the Commission.”

In order to address the problem of low insurance penetration, entrench the culture of insurance in every part of the country and enhance the effectiveness of its surveillance in all the geopolitical zones of the country, it explained that the expansion of the Commission’s infrastructural facilities is inevitable and as such it requires a befitting office accommodation to curtail any future office space crises.

“This clarification has become necessary to clear any doubt in the minds of the public with respect to the process followed by the Commission in its efforts at acquiring the property,” it added.