NIGER COMMITS TO TAKAFUL INSURANCE

By NBF News

By Favour Nnabugwu
The management of Niger Insurance Plc has restated the company's commitment to cater for the needs of Muslim community in the country, to supply all their insurance needs in tandem with Islamic laws.

Dr Clinton Uranta, the Managing Director of the company gave this assurance during a chat with journalists in Lagos recently. He stated that Niger designed a product called 'Mutual Halal Plan' specifically for Muslims.

He explained that the Mutual Halal Plan is a life insurance scheme with a savings and investment plan based on Islamic profit-sharing and reciprocal guarantee principle of al-takaful.

'Mutual Halal Plan aims at encouraging Muslim brothers and sisters to save and mobilise fund to meet the financial obligations involved in performing certain religious rites without subjecting themselves to financial hardships,'Uranta stressed.

Under the plan, Uranta elucidated that participants can save regularly for a period that is convenient for them and the accumulated target amount can be used to finance their obligations such as going to perform Hajj, to buy ram for Sallah, to arrange for wedding, and to secure one's children's education.

To make it easier for the people, he said the company has simplified the plan so that the policyholders are free to choose the kind of plan they want, be it Pilgrimage Plan to go to Mecca without stress; Marriage Plan (Al Nikah), Sallah Plan; Mortgage Plan (Al-Binau); Educational Plan (Al-Tadris); and Retirement Plan (Waqifl'amal).

Uranta also shed light on how the plan works, saying the installment paid by the participants are credited to a special fund which is segmented into two accounts, namely: the Participants' Account and the Participants' Special Account.

Once the participant has contributed into the plan for at least one year, the person is free to withdraw part or all of the net cash value of his account before maturity date, he said.

Besides, in the event that the participant does not survive to the target date, the nominated representative or heirs will receive the balance of the participant's account in addition to the benefit from participants account, based on Islamic principle of Hibah, he assured.