Nigeria@62: Insurance on right track, but needs repositioning – Stakeholders

According to her, insurers must improve financial literacy by creating awareness on insurance at a young age from basic schools to build the next generation of wealth for the country.

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As Nigerians celebrate the country’s 62nd independence, stakeholders say the insurance industry has fared well, while suggesting measures to reposition it.

Mrs Adeola Adewunmi-Zer, Chief Executive Officer, Allianz Nigeria Insurance Ltd., said the insurance industry had a long history that spanned over 100 years and had contributed considerably to the growth of the economy.

However, Adewumi-Zer said insurers must not rest on their oars but do a lot more, especially in the area of insurance education for people to understand what insurance was all about and trust the underwriters.

According to her, insurers must improve financial literacy by creating awareness on insurance at a young age from basic schools to build the next generation of wealth for the country.

“There are so many educated people who are uneducated when it comes to insurance and managing their financial lives,” she said.

The Allianz CEO charged the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to encourage more foreign investors and partnership with local underwriting firms to enable the industry thrive better.

To Mr Sola Ajayi, Executive Head of Sales, Leadway Assurance, the insurance industry in Nigeria is a pre-independent industry whose operators have contributed immensely to the sector and the economy at large.

Ajayi stated that the expectations of insurers was for the economy to improve, so that citizens can afford more assets and insure them also.

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He expressed optimism that the insurance industry would grow as the economy continued to grow.

The Leadway Assurance sales head lauded the current Commissioner For Insurance (CFI), Mr Sunday Thomas, for bridging the gap between the regulator and operators, adding that this had engendered growth within the industry.

Ajayi noted that the operators, however, expected deeper level of engagement and interaction between the regulator and stakeholders.

“The CFI has done a great job of bridging the gap between the operators and regulator through his support but there is still more ground to cover, ” he said.

According to him, operators must invest more in human capital, marketing, product innovation and experimentation, which will enable them to understand their current customers the more and how to serve them better.

Ajayi said: “We must collectively improve our service delivery, as a bad experience with one underwriter is a bad experience with all.

“Operators must understand this and carry the responsibility with a sense of collectivity.”

Mr Moses Igbrude, immediate past Publicity Secretary, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, explained that the insurance industry had fared well, although it might be lagging behind compared to other sectors of the economy.

Igbrude said there was no doubt that the industry had improved over the years compared to when awareness was abysmally low.

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“When you compare between independence in 1960 when the awareness was not even there at all and now, one would admit that there has been a lot of improvement, new products, new companies and consolidation,” he said.

According to him, insurers must do more in deepening micro insurance for financial inclusion, deeper penetration and sustaining the future of the industry.

On halting the recapitalisation of the industry, he noted that insurance like every other industry should be recapitalised, but the exercise must be driven by the stakeholders.

“There is need for the industry to expand through recapitalisation for more business transactions and risk taking, and no one is against this.

“Unfortunately, present circumstances in the business space after the COVID-19, which include inflation, low capital income pose a challenge to raise such funds,” he said.

Igbrude called for more insurance education to break cultural and religious barriers against insurance and adoption of advanced technology to enable the industry contribute significantly to the county’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He also charged the government at all levels to provide a more suitable environment for insurance to thrive by enforcing compulsory insurance, especially on health, building, motor insurance, amongst others.