Yemisi Izuora
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Ogunwusi, has joined the campaign to deepen insurance along communities areas in the country after being named Ambassador of Insurance Brokers.
Ogunwusi, said he will assist the industry to underscore the place of insurance as a risk mitigating device amongst traditional rulers in the country.
The traditional ruler said that no economy could achieve its desired progress and development if insurance and risk management were not given their rightful place.
Ogunwusi made the pledge after the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, NCRIB, named him Ambassador of Insurance Brokers in Nigeria.
The NCRIB, in a statement Friday said that its President, Dr Bola Onigbogi made the declaration during a visit paid by a delegation of the council to the traditional ruler in his palace in Ile- Ife, Osun State.
Onigbogi said that the council picked the traditional ruler for the title because he had continued to demonstrate outstanding leadership and commitment to growth of insurance broking profession in Nigeria.
She said that the capacity and growth of the insurance industry would be enhanced if notable figures like the royal father identified with the profession.
The NCRIB President appealed to the monarch to utilise his position among prominent traditional rulers to boost insurance in the country.
She said that this would promote the understanding of the pivotal role played by insurance, as a safety valve against perennial losses of property and lives at the grassroots.
“The traditional rulers, by virtue of their closeness to the grassroots, are often the first point of contact by the people, especially when they suffer a loss.
“The embrace of insurance by the people would reduce the misery they often suffer and at the same time enhance the relevance of the traditional rulers to the people,” she said.
Onigbogi urged the government to imbibe the culture of making yearly budgetary provisions for insurance.
She said that this was to ensure effective insurance covers for the numerous assets and guarantee economic and social stability of the country.
In a similar visit, Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State, assured the council that the state government would continue to deploy insurance as a prudential strategy for protecting human and material assets.
Oyetola said that to this end, the state was already making effort to collaborate with the National Insurance Commission to accelerate improved acceptance of the industry in Osun State by giving impetus to the law on compulsory insurance.
The statement quoted the governor as saying that it was more prudent for government to insure its human and material assets prior to any loss or calamity.
He said that this was because when such losses occured, it often required the government to give succour to the victims from the meagre funds at the state’s disposal.
