Source-Daily Newswatch
Nigerian insurance industry has the capacity to generate over N1 trillion premium annually if operators can display high sense of creativity , evolve new ways of doing business and shun old ways characterized by unethical competition that often erode their income.
Insurance guru and former Managing Director Crystalife Insurance plc Mrs Seyi Ifaturoti stated this in her suggestion on how to reposition the insurance sub- sector for a better performance.
Ifaturoti speaking to Daily Newswatch in her office in Lagos observed that the operators can take advantage of the huge population of the country to grow premium for themselves.
She however regretted that instead of doing this, the insurers are full of complaints about low premium and some businesses taken away from them by government,
She noted that Nigerian Insurance operators have no business complaining about low premium if efforts were made to take advantage of the nation’s huge population.
She called on operators to be creative and begin to do things in a new way, adding that the industry has the potentials to generate over N1 trillion if available opportunities were harnessed.
Ifaturoti, had once predicted that Nigerians will soon embrace life insurance products like the telecommunications if things were done properly.
In her words; “It is my belief that life insurance would be appreciated just as the telecommunications, which many people in the past did not believe would be embraced by the number we have today.”
According to her, the market opportunity for insurance in Nigeria has grown rapidly, requiring businesses to rethink product design, pricing and distribution strategies to effectively reach the increasing pool of potential customers.
Ifaturoti who was also former president of the chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria and currently co- founder and director of Crystal Project Management queried how long insurance operators would continue to play with ethical standard set by the industry adding that the operators have dwelled too long on unprofessional practices like rate cutting and price wars.
She said for the operators to build a virile industry that will stand the test of time for the coming generation they must learn to play by the rule.