News

The National Insurance Board
Press Release

By the National Insurance Board
in response to article in The Tribune, July 23, 2009

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A “business person in Fox Hill” suggested in a letter to the Editor (What’s Going on at NIB? – Tribune 23/09), that with the recent move of Inspectors from the National Insurance Board’s Fox Hill Local Office to its Jumbey Village Local Office in the Clifford Darling Complex, the Board’s operations in Fox Hill will close down. According to Greg Collie, Senior Manager for Compliance with responsibility for the Inspectorate, nothing could be further from the truth. He said the Fox Hill Local Office is not closing down. It will continue to be an accessible and convenient service centre where Fox Hillians and other area residents and business persons can access services such as are delivered around The Bahamas. They will continue to be able to conduct registration, submit claims, collect benefit cheques, and they will continue to be able to pay their monthly contributions.

Said Collie, “I see no earthly reason why the relocation of our Inspectors would negatively impact any business person in Fox Hill or anywhere else. Far from a negative impact, it should have positive results all around.”

He said, “NIB employs today a little over 480 persons throughout The Bahamas. In our NIB family is a very important group of people called Inspectors. In New Providence there are approximately 30. They have a shared commitment among them to ensuring compliance with the National Insurance Act, 1972. The mission of the National Insurance Board that started in 1974 is, primarily, to provide income-replacing benefits for contributors when they are unable to work; in order for us to do this, Inspectors must make every effort to ensure that contributors contribute.

“It is no secret that we have had a problem with compliance in the past. As good stewards, our response has been to review our compliance efforts with a view to introducing initiatives that would improve compliance. This latest move – to bring all of the Inspectors in New Providence together – will give us a more focused, concerted and consistent compliance thrust.”

Collie assures employers and self-employed persons in Fox Hill and surrounding areas that the six Inspectors previously assigned to them will continue to be assigned to them and accessible to them. Persons who may need to meet with Inspectors from time to time can continue to do so, either at their workplaces or at the Fox Hill Local Office. They simply have to do as they would have done in the past – call the Inspector and make the appointment.

Persons who do not have contacts for their assigned Inspectors may call 502-1543 or 502-2058.