Insurers asked to channel resources to areas of mass need for growth

The nation’s insurance industry has been tasked to deploy resources to economic development, particularly sectors that affect the needs of the teeming population, such as housing and asset acquisition, which create value for individual and corporate entities. This they say, would be a good strategy to deepen insurance penetration.

The experts further say this direction would enhance citizen’s standard of living and subsequently encourage appreciation of insurance as a necessary tool for protection and risk management.

Kola Ayeye, executive director of Mainstreet Bank, lent his voice to the call, at the ongoing International Education Conference of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria(CIIN) taking place in Lagos.

Ayeye said since the present economic situation in the country, marked by entrenched poverty, the insurance industry should strategically provide for the needs of the populace and in the process, compel them to take insurance for protection of these assets.

“The Nigerian housing gap is in millions and if insurance could provide housing across the country to at least the middle class, it will be an opportunity to make them take up mortgage plans, over time with insurance packages”.

Speaking on theme, Re-dimensioning the Insurance Industry Contributions to the National Economy,” Ayeye observed that for the scheme to work, insurance companies would have to pool resources, rather than act individually.

“We have about 69 percent of the population living below poverty level. The insurance industry must position itself to drive the change it desires, by being the catalyst of economic development, he said.

Fatai Kayode Lawal, president of the CIIN, speaking earlier, said the choice of the theme was a call for insurance practitioners to hone their skills, to engender greater relevance in the new scheme of things.

“The choice of the conference theme is also borne out of our institute’s commitment in providing ample opportunities for continuous professional education and the need to continuously engage insurance managers in the constructive revaluation of the contributions to the nation’s economy, in the ever-dynamic business environment.

The contributions of the insurance industry to GDP, Lawal said, must remain its collective concern. He added, “It is clearly illogical for our sector to remain an insignificant contributor to an economy that is now tagged the largest in Africa, following the rebasing of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“Therefore the on-going process of transformation in the Agricultural, Power, Transport and Financial Services sectors, represent the most critical phase of nationhood, and beckons on all segments of the economy, including the insurance industry, to be more responsive.”

According to him, the institute has worked in the last one-year to reinforce the platforms for the promotion of an all-inclusive insurance education, which involves widening the horizon of members through appropriate learning experiences and the development of competences in the critical areas of Risk Management, Financial Inclusion and Good Corporate Governance which are essential for the growth of the industry.