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Insurers would be strengthening its ties  with National Assembly Members in the New Year to hasten the passage into law of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, an aspect of insurance that has remained in the cooler for so long.  The umbrella body of insurance companies, the Nigerian Insurers Association says one of its projects in the 2009 financial year would be to ensure that this aspect of the law takes off in full swing. Operators are optimistic that its full take-off will enhance the income of the industry, and assist its contribution to the national economy.  
The argued that the current trade on the Bill, which has not allowed it to see the light of the day, is not in the best interest of the nation, the insurance industry or those who want to make fortune out of the plight of the Nigerian workers. 
The Workmen’s Compensation Decree of 1987 provides that all businesses must provide coverage for the benefit of their employees who may be injured or incapacitated while on the job. This requirement is satisfied by purchasing Workers’ Compensation insurance, which is available from registered insurance companies that are licensed by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM). This law applies compensation to four types of mishap including permanent partial incapacity, permanent total incapacity, temporary incapacity, fatal accidents and where death results. 
However, despite the importance of this law, not much success has been made as a result of non compliance and the insurance in the other hand have not realized much premium from this aspect of their business.  
The proposed Bill, which is intended to come up with an operational scheme that will ensure that workers particularly those in the high risk areas give in their best irrespective of job challenges, is presently stalled at the National Assembly. 
Business Day gathered that while some individual and groups who have got no business with provision of insurance services are attempting to hijack it, some law makers see it as an opportunity to make money for themselves. 
Experts view is that the overall effect of workmen’s compensation policy on a worker’s morale cannot be overemphasized. “It is in truth an excellent form of motivation for a line of work that may or may not be high-risk. Oil companies are known to provide wonderful incentives to their field staff, especially those who are engaged in work on oil rigs and related assignments including pipeline maintenance. As these benefits are continually being added, the provision of certain types of insurance for employees may, in addition to an attractive salary may be one of the most important factors considered by would-be employees in choosing which job offer to accept. 
Business Day learnt that as the situation is, Insurers who are the original managers of the scheme may have to do what is legally wrong to see the Bill passed into law or in their favour, or else, the Workmen’s Compensation may go the way the pension management went, where the original managers, the insurance companies had to be watching from the side following appointments of Pension Fund Administrators (PFA’s). 
Before the Pension Reform Act 2004 was signed into law in Nigeria , the insurance industry was the biggest managers of pension which in a very big way added to their premium generation. Contribution from pension was said to be responsible for about 40 percent of the industry’s income on an annual basis. But following the reform, Pension Fund Administrators (PFA’s) were appointed as managers of the fund, which implied taking over the business of pension management away from the insurers. 
Even though there is a provision in the Act which allowed the insurers to undertake the provision of group life insurance for workers, though yet to fully take-off almost four years after the start of the scheme, the situation has never been the same with the insurance industry. 
Pascal Egerue, managing director, Afribank Insurance Brokers Limited said that Workmen’s Compensation is a very crucial motivation that gives a worker the confidence to do his or her job. 
He said that much income has not come into the insurance industry from the Workmen’s Compensation because those who are supposed to make it work have not shown the required interest. Like many other compulsory insurance policies, the bottleneck has been that of implementation as no one including government has been able to enforce compliance, he said.