The Sun News On-line

After a long legal tussle over the ownership of NICON Insurance plc between Federal Ministry of Finance, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) on one hand and Mr Jimoh Ibrahim on the other, the pendulum appears to be swinging back to Ibrahim as the bona fide owner of the enterprise.

Following an agreement reached between the two parties that both the core investor (Ibrahim) and the government are to inject fresh funds amounting to N17.3 billion in NICON within 90 days, the enterprise will be returned to Ibrahim on Monday. (today)

To this end, the AGF, Michael Aondokaa, is expected to present the new agreement for an out-of-court settlement to the Federal High Court, Abuja for approval.
However, Minister of State for Finance, Remi Babalola, met with Aondoakaa, Ibrahim and the Commissioner for Insurance, Fola Daniel, last week for the resolution of the crisis.
“A truce has been reached by the government and the core investor, and an agreement has also been signed by all parties including the Federal Attorney General and Justice Minister.
“The actions so far taken are for the good of the industry in particular and the country in general.”, sources said.

Besides withdrawing all three suits pending in court, the core investor is equally required to render to NAICOM mandatory statutory returns from 2006 to 2007 in accordance with section 26 (1-4) of the Insurance Act 2003, and a pledge not to renege on rendering to insurance industry regulator all future statutory returns in accordance with the Act.

Speaking in a telephone interview, Jimoh Ibrahim confirmed that an agreement has been reached between him and the government, saying: “There is no more disagreement. All the parties have signed the new agreement. I have signed and the government has also signed. We (the core investors and government) will be injecting N17.3 billion into the company.

The government is expected to bring in over N8 billion out of the N17 billion, while the core investor will raise N9 billion. My own cheque for the N9 billion is ready. We await the government’s share of the funds to be injected. We have 90 days to inject the funds.”