An ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives has summoned the chief executive officers of all insurance companies in Nigeria over alleged breach of the National Housing Fund (NHF) Act, which mandates all the companies to invest a portion of their funds into housing development sector.
Chairman of the committee, Dachung Bagos (PDP, Plateau), who announced the summon during its sitting on Tuesday in Abuja, said the companies are defaulting to the tune of N267 billion.
Bagos said most of the insurance companies in Nigeria have not been complying with the provision of the law.
Section 5(2) of the NHF states that every insurance company must invest a minimum of 20% of its non-life funds and 40% of its life funds in real property development but 50% of the fund must be invested into the NHF through the Federal Mortgage Bank at interest rate not more four per cent.
Bagos said the lawmakers have the record of all remittances into the NHF, adding that the companies failed to remit a total of N267 billion.
”In 2019 alone, 54 insurance companies have not remitted N267 billion. They need to tell us where the money is. This figure does not include 2020 to 2023. We have the law but we are not working with the law, rather we complain on a daily basis,” he said.
The lawmaker ordered the clerk of the committee to write letters to all the insurance companies, fixing a date to appear.
