The African Insurance Organisation has said Nigeria
accounts for a quarter of kidnap for ransom cases reported worldwide in
the last one year.
The Insurance Institute of Mauritius, the official
host of the 18th African Reinsurance Forum of AIO, disclosed this in its
newsletter on kidnap and ransom insurance cover during the ongoing
forum in Balaclava, Mauritius on Wednesday
For this reason, the insurance association said
Nigeria had been designated as the global capital for kidnap for ransom
due to the huge record of kidnap cases reported in the country yearly.
Delegates from different countries in Africa and across the globe attended the annual forum.
In the report, AIO stated, “The number of kidnaps for
ransom in Africa continued to increase. In the first half of 2011,
Africa’s proportion of the global total increased from 23 per cent in
2010 to 34 per cent. Nigeria is now the kidnap for ransom capital of the
world, accounting for a quarter of globally reported cases.”
It further stated that kidnap and ransom insurance
constituted the illegal taking and holding captive of an insured person
and was triggered under the policy by a financial demand as a condition
of the release of the captive.
According to the organisation, the perils cover
kidnap, bodily injury extortion, property damage extortion, product
extortion, computer virus extortion, trade secret extortion, political
detention and hijack.
According to the newsletter, there has been an upsurge in the demand for terrorism insurance.
The Minister of Business, Enterprises and
Cooperatives, Mauritius, Mr. Jim Seataran, welcomed all initiatives by
the insurance industries in Africa geared towards the development of the
sector and encouraged collaboration between partners both at regional
and international levels.
While speaking on how Mauritius had been able to
develop its insurance sector with just a population of 1.2 million
people, he said insurance penetration in the country was about 5.2 per
cent, while its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product was three per
cent.
According to him, the sector recorded a growth of 4.5 per cent in
2011 with asset amounting to Rs95.9bn for 21 insurance companies.
