….Says it secured FEC approval, no objection certificate
Following irregularities in some media over a planned purchase of N4billion uncompleted property in Abuja by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), the Commission yesterday said it got the necessary approval to procure the building for its proposed Academy and office accommodation.
Reports had broken that the deal did not go through the laid down procurement procedures as set out in the Public Procurement Act, but the Commission yesterday disclosed that it secured the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for its planned purchase of a property in Abuja.
Reacting to the media reports, NAICOM in a statement obtained by The Daily Times explained 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 to 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 the knowledge gap in the insurance sector regulation and supervision not only in Nigeria but across Africa and beyond and also serves 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
