The Nigerian Insurers Affiliation has urged the Home Committee on Capital Market and Establishments to respect the constitutional separation of powers because it carries out a probe on over 20 insurance coverage corporations.
In an announcement on Tuesday night time, the Director Normal/Chief Govt Officer of NIA, Mrs Bola Odukale, stated the choice of NIA and the affected corporations to method the court docket was to hunt readability on the constitutional limits of the Home Committee’s probe.
PUNCH On-line reported on Monday that the Home of Representatives is investigating no fewer than 25 insurance coverage firms working within the nation for varied monetary infractions spanning monetary reporting, claims settlement, premium remittance, and issuance of insurance policies.
The Chairman, Home Sub-Committee on Capital Market and Establishments, Kwamoti Laori, throughout a gathering with the administration of the insurance coverage firms on the Nationwide Meeting Complicated in Abuja, stated the assembly was convened following the receipt of a petition on infractions by the insurance coverage firms.
Within the assertion, Odukale stated, “The Affiliation needs to state unequivocally that every one actions taken by the NIA and the affected member firms in response to the Committee’s invites and pronouncements have been based mostly fully on authorized recommendation by its Solicitors. It was on the agency instruction of authorized counsel that recourse was made to the courts.
“The target of approaching the Court docket is to hunt judicial steering on the legality, propriety, and constitutional limits of the Committee’s intervention as a way to safeguard institutional integrity, uphold regulatory independence, and be certain that legislative oversight stays throughout the bounds of legislation.
“The Court docket motion seeks to find out whether or not the present posture of the Committee displays an train of legislative judgment, which, by constitutional design, is the unique province of statutory regulators, such because the Nationwide Insurance coverage Fee, Securities and Change Fee, Nigerian Change, Monetary Reporting Council, Nigeria Information Safety Fee, and the Nationwide Data Know-how Improvement Company.
“This raises critical questions on legislative overreach and an erosion of the doctrine of separation of powers, a cornerstone of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy.”
Odukale maintained that the NIA was dedicated to lawful and constructive engagement with all arms of presidency, offered that such engagement respects the autonomy of statutory regulators and the boundaries established by the Structure.
“The NIA will proceed to offer its full help to all member firms whereas upholding the ideas of authorized compliance and sector-wide integrity,” Odukale concluded.
17 of the businesses that went to court docket have been represented by their lawyer, Mr Abimbola Kayode, on the assembly with the committee.
