The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Fola Daniel, has said that the N200 million deposited by insurance companies during recapitalisation in the sector will be released after on-going investigation. He said that the fund, being kept in an escrow account at Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), would be released after the committee investigating the recapitalisation exercise concludes its assignment.

A statement issued by the commission and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos at the Weekend, said that Daniel made the promise while receiving the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Aderemi Babalola, who paid him a courtesy visit. He therefore urged the committee to finish its assignment in good time to facilitate early release of the fund to affected firms. The commissioner said that the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) was geared towards a change in the sector and promised that the sector would soon be of standard to what is obtained abroad. "The supervisory framework would be IT- driven and one that places priority on ethical corporate governance in addition to being adequately capitalised," he said.

Responding, Aderemi promised that the Ministry would give NAICOM the necessary support in the recapitalisation exercise."It will be difficult to have a strong financial service sector without a strengthened insurance industry and that the on-going reforms in the sub-sector are meant to make insurance safer, bigger and stronger and reduce the abysmally low contribution of insurance to the national economy," he said. He said the Ministry was determined to make the Commission stronger by providing all necessary support to strengthen her regulatory activities.

He urged the Technical Committee to submit its report on the recapitalisation exercise as soon as possible, saying that the insurance industry and the public were anxiously waiting for the report.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Technical Committee, Malam Bala Zakariya'u, thanked the minister for giving him and the members of his Committee the opportunity to serve.

He said the insurance industry was delighted to have a man of his kind and pedigree as the Minister of State for Finance and gave assurances that the report of the investigation would be submitted soon.