Nigeria hosts first ECOWAS Brown Card zonal meeting in Lagos
L-R: Chairman Council of Bureaux, ECOWAS Brown Card Scheme, Mr. Habib Dia; Commissioner for Insurance, (NAICOM), Mr. Olusegun Ayo Omosehin; and Permanent Secretary General, ECOWAS Brown Card, Mr. Winfred Kwasi Dodzih
Abdullateef Fowewe
Nigeria is hosting the inaugural zonal meeting of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme for 2026 in Lagos from April 13–16.
The event, themed “The Digital Divide: Managing Change in the Brown Card Operational Strategy for Effective Cross-Border Claims Settlement,” draws stakeholders from West Africa to enhance digital integration, speed up claims, and unify motor insurance for cross-border accidents.
The scheme provides third-party compensation for road accident victims involving foreign motorists across ECOWAS states.
Speaking at the Eko hotel on Tuesday, Commissioner for Insurance, Olusegun Ayo Omosehin, welcomed participants, stating, “This meeting comes at a critical time for the West African insurance industry, as we respond to regulatory reforms, technological change, and the growing demand for deeper regional integration.”
He highlighted Nigeria’s 2025 Insurance Industry Reform Act, which bolsters the National Bureau’s role, and urged “strict compliance with operational guidelines” and “timely settlement of valid claims.”
Chairman of the Council of Bureaux, Habib Dia, in his remarks emphasised digital urgency.
“A system is only as strong as its weakest link,” said Dia.
He called for harmonised data standards, platform integration for real-time claims, capacity building, and cybersecurity, warning that “managing this change is not optional—it is existential.”
Speaking with journalists at the sidelines of the event, Permanent Secretary General of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance, Winfred Kwasi Dodzih said Nigeria’s return strengthens the region.
“Nigeria coming back is going to enhance the development of the sub region, promotion of trade across the universities, and also employment for the team,” Dodzih said.
He stressed the scheme’s role in free movement and digital shifts from paper to digital processes.
The meeting aims to bridge digital gaps for efficient claims and regional trust.
Chairman of the Nigerian National Bureau of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme, Dr Lucas Durojaiye, while speaking with journalists pledged a full shift to digital processes to close existing gaps in cross‑border motor insurance operations.
Durojaiye said the bureau is focusing on areas “where we are having gaps where the entire other region or entire world had gone so far, and that is why we are picking up this thing digitalisation of our process, especially when it comes to claims.”
He explained that the goal is to ensure that motorists no longer need to be physically present to process claims, noting that, “We don’t need to travel, you don’t need to be physical and all that. So we want to get together and then get it right, and then put both claim
