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.
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