Government sees insurance playing bigger role in economic transformation

The federal government believes insurance will have greater role to play in its economic transformation agenda for risk mitigation, particularly in power, transport sector and other infrastructural development projects. Accordingly, this will require that insurance build local capacity in funding and technical expertise to ensure that huge resources being deployed to economic development are protected against disasters.

President Goodluck Jonathan who disclosed this during the occasion of his decoration as Grand Patron of West African Insurance Institute (WAII) said his administration is aware that insurance is an essential ingredient of economic growth and development of any country.

WAII is an insurance training centre with full diplomatic status, juridical personality and financial authority, which provides professional insurance education and allied courses to the personnel of insurance, financial industries and the public sector headquartered in Banjul, The Gambia.

“Without insurance, companies and individuals would not be able to manage risk; the world would be a far less innovative place and many of the activities people and government take for granted could be prohibitively risky.”

So we value insurance, more so that the Nigeria insurance industry has been making useful contributions to our economic life, Jonathan stated.

According to him, one of the major lessons of the economic turmoil in the recent past is the need for transparent, efficient and neutral government regulation of the financial services sector. We believe that this is the right platform upon which accessible, robust and dynamic markets for financial products are built.

“This administration clearly understands and recognises this fact and has actually embarked on policies designed towards achieving growth and development in the insurance industry in the country.”

He pointed that this is evident under the Group Life Insurance Policy where the federal government has provided the lead by ensuring that its entire employees are fully insured. In the same light, government has also ensured adequate insurance of its assets and property.

“In line with our transformation agenda, a key driver of the current reforms in the insurance sub-sector of the Nigerian economy is the desire to grow and develop the micro-insurance and Takaful markets. It is the hope of this administration that the drive will engender the desired growth and market penetration.”

Suffice to say that the ongoing reforms in our insurance sector are aimed at creating a world-class regime for insurers and provide significantly enhanced protection for Nigerian policyholders.

The privatisation and deregulation policy of government created a level playing field for the private sector to participate and drive growth in all sectors of the economy. The insurance sector was indeed, not an exception in this regard. I am delighted to inform you that this exercise saw to the substantial divestment of the Federal Government from two previously state-owned insurance companies.

Within the purview of Vision 20:2020, government envisions an economy that will rank among the twenty largest in the world by the year 2020 and insurance is a veritable growth driver. It is on this premise that this administration has continued to show adequate support to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), the industry regulatory body in its drive to develop the insurance market and deepen penetration.

“Let me reiterate that this administration will continue to support the Institute towards achieving the laudable objective set by its founding fathers.”

We applaud the contribution of WAII to the development of the much needed manpower for the insurance sector in West Africa and beyond.