Source- Guardian
Before the potential in the insurance sector can be fully realised, there is a need for governments at all levels to insure all their assets, as this will also enhance the financial capacity of the sector in many ways.
This, the Director General of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Richard Olutayo Borokini, in an interview with The Guardian, said would help cushion the effects of losses in the event of fire outbreaks and building collapses in the country.
To achieve this, Borokini also urged sgovernment to enforce a law that will bind all professionals to appreciate the place of insurance in all their dealings before being allowed to practice, noting that this is one of the ways the business is being made viable in other countries of the world.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission, (NAICOM), Muhammed Kari, said government agencies cannot shelve insurance because it is a recommendation of the law.
Kari in an interview in Lagos added that the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have the responsibility to protect government’s assets.“Government being the owner of the law cannot default. It is not in the interest of other consumers to see that government fails to insure. So, government will do everything it has to do to ensure it protects public assets.
“For instance, my responsibility as the chief executive of NAICOM is to ensure that I abide by all the laws of Nigeria, and ensure the enforcement of all laws. Sometimes, operators take it unkindly when I ask them questions that are not insurance-related. I do ask companies if they are making returns to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). They may ask, what is my business with their returns?
“If I licenced a company, it is my duty to ensure that it obeys the laws of Nigeria. It is my business to ensure that companies pay their taxes and meet the requirements of other regulators. So it is interwoven and I cannot see any responsible officer sitting on top of an MDA and say insurance should be relegated. We are trying to sensitise them not to do so and we have organized a retreat for top level officers to appreciate their responsibilities under the insurance market,” Kari said.
He added that “an informed consumer of insurance gives priority to insurance when the economy gets tough. This is because, the ability to replace lost and damaged things become more difficult; hence, one needs to look for an opportunity to transfer the risk to someone else.
“However, we cannot say our society has reached that level. In the country, insurance occupies the last priority in the hierarchy of needs, and in times like this, it gets more ignored in an economy like ours.”
He attributed the low patronage of insurance to the fact that Nigerians lacked basic insurance knowledge to fully appreciate the benefits inherent in it, saying: “there’s a willing suspension of acquiring basic knowledge about insurance products and how it works by majority of Nigerians which must be dispelled.”