Ignorance major setback for insurance – says monarch

Much of the public misgivings about the insurance industry in Nigeria are due to ignorance and lack of proper understanding of insurance mechanism as a tool of risk management by the people, Da Jacob Gyang Buba, the Gbong Gwom Jos, has said.

The Monarch made this observation in Jos, the Plateau State capital, when the management of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), led by Fola Daniel, the commissioner for insurance, paid him a courtesy call.

The Gbong Gwom Jos also noted that the misgivings may have been due to the activities of a few operators that had engaged in sharp practices in the past but said that such practices were not peculiar to the insurance industry.

“Just like any other sector of the economy, the activities of a negligible few may have given rise to such negative perception. But that was not enough to overlook the good the industry has to offer the people.

“The people will derive more value from the services of insurance as the industry grows,” the Monarch said.

He therefore appealed to insurance operators to be more forthright in their dealings with the public so as to erase the negative perception of the people about the sector.