By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Federal Government is set to issue a circular ordering all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to insure all government assets.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Mr. Boss Mustapha gave the hint in Abuja yesterday when received the governing board of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
Represented by the Permanent Secretary, General Services Office (GSO) Dr. Maurice Mbaeri, Mr. Boss Mustapha asked the NAICOM team to come up with a draft document of what they want the circular to contain to guide the Office of the SGF in properly articulating the circular.
According to the SGF, “send a draft copy of the circular to the SGF, after the review, of the circular will be released to the MDAs”.
The SGF told the NAICOM team that “the draft circular should reflect what you want. If it meets the SGF’s expectations, it will be issued to the appropriate MDAs”.
At the end of the courtesy visit, the Permanent Secretary General Services Office (GSO) Dr. Maurice Mbaeri decried the decline in budgetary allocation meant for insuring public assets.
After learning that the premium to be paid for insuring public assets are centralized in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), Dr. Mbaeri said “there is no way the HoS alone can cover insurance premium for all the MDAs.
Mbaeri urged NAICOM to “write for the decentralization of insurance premium amongst the MDAs”.
Earlier, the Chairman, Governing Board of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) Dr. Abubarkar Sani pleaded with the SGF to support the Commission in executing a compulsory insurance scheme for all MDAs.
Dr Sani said the Commission is interested in seeing all government assets insured. “we want the SGF to issue a circular or letter to all MDAs on the necessity of compulsory insurance”.
