The Secretary-General, Nigerian National Bureau, Mrs Henrietta Anyanna, said despite the fact that the Automatic Brown Card regime was yet to be adopted in Nigeria, travellers in the country within the ECOWAS regions were paid N84m claims.
She said this in a report on ‘ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme @40’.
She said, “Claims worth more than N84m have been paid to Nigerian third-party victims of accidents as of December 31st, 2021, even in the absence of an Automatic Ecowas Brown Card regime.
“Imagine what the situation will be like after the official implementation of the Automatic Brown Card in Nigeria. The scheme is putting smiles on the faces of victims as well as transforming lives of the less privileged forever.”
The ECOWAS Brown Card insurance scheme was established on May 19, 1982, following the creation of the Economic Community of West African States.
It was designed as a common scheme for the settlement of claims arising from accidents in the course of the free movement of goods and persons within the ECOWAS sub-region.
The report said, “The Brown Card Scheme facilitates prompt and fair settlement of claims to road accident victims caused by motorists outside their country of residence. In addition, the scheme facilitates and provides financial guarantees to ECOWAS community motorists and their vehicles within the sub-region. This scheme is similar to the Green Card in Europe.
“The scheme operates through 14 national bureaux of member states and the national bureau in each member state ensures the availability of Brown Card for local motorists, conducts investigations and settles claims arising from an accident caused by holders of Brown Card. It then acts as an issuing and handling bureau.”
The Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association, Mr Ganiyu Musa, is the chairman, Nigeria National Bureau as well as the chairman of the Council of Bureaux.
Nigeria has the largest market in the ECOWAS space with 22 member companies presently.
The report said, “The implementation of Automatic Ecowas Brown Card will bring on board all motor insurance underwriting companies. This implies that your local insurance cover will be issued along with a Brown Card cover to ensure the ECOWAS risk we are exposed to. This situation would be addressed further with the ongoing automation of the issuance of the Ecowas Brown Cards.”
