Insurance policy holders increased from 500,000 in 2010 to about 1,500,000 in 2012 in the country, Commissioner for Insurance, Fola Daniel has said.

While commissioning the North-central zonal office of the National Insurance Commission located in Ilorin, Kwara State, Daniel said that the gross premium income of the insurance companies increased from N157 billion in 2010 to N250 billion in 2012 and resulted in an increase in the ratio of premium to GDP from 0.5 percent to 0.7 percent.

He said the increment is as a result of massive sensitization campaigns across the country to further educate and inform the public about insurance, build confidence and grow the gross premium income.

Already, the Commission has opened Kano and Enugu zonal offices for the North-west and South-east respectively, in its efforts to strengthen its regulatory capability across the country.

He explained that "to achieve its mandate of deepening insurance penetration and awareness in the country, the Governing Board of the Commission in 2011, approved the establishment of three additional zonal offices to be located in Ilorin, Port-Harcourt and Maiduguri respectively."

According to him, the "locations were carefully selected owing to their strategic economic importance and relevance to the growth and development of insurance in the respective zones."

He also indicated that the Commission is making arrangements to commission the South-south and North-east zonal offices.

He indicated that the Commission in its quest to deepen insurance penetration in our country, established a developmental platform called the Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI).

The programme is in line with the federal government's FSS2020 development framework and has amongst its goals: "To promote public understanding of insurance mechanism; Build confidence in the Nigerian Insurance Market; Grow the gross premium income; Increase insurance density and contribution to GDP, and ensure enforcement and monitoring of compulsory insurances in Nigeria."