Industry awaits outcome as Insurers Committee meets tomorrow

Just like the Bankers’ Committee, Insurers Committee recently inaugurated by the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun will be meeting in Lagos on Thursday. Outcome of the meeting is expected to drive the change agenda being championed by the industry regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

The Head, Corporate Affairs Department, NAICOM,  ‘Rasaaq ‘Salami, had disclosed during the inauguration of the Committee that similar to the Bankers Committee, it would oversee the affairs of all insurance companies, as the industry is set for implementation of its change agenda.

Earlier, the insurance sector had inaugurated the Insurance Industry Consultative Committee (IICC), a committee of all actors in insurance industry. While differentiating between the two committees, Salami stressed that the insurers’ committee is made up of only underwriters, with IICC encompassing all operators in the insurance industry.

According to him, “The Insurers Committee is similar to the Bankers Committee and offers opportunity to industry players to engage in meaningful discussions on the issues and challenges of the sector while proffering solutions. Post inauguration, the Committee is expected to meet once every month.”

The previous administration at the Federal level, had begun what it termed transformation agenda, under the then Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, in insurance industry, but the new administration has emphasised on change agenda in a bid to put insurance industry on the right track so that it can contribute more to economic growth and development.

The industry was said to have the potentials of attracting as much as N5 trillion and creating more than 300,000 direct jobs in less than 10 years from the current poor financial base of N300 billion and 30,000 jobs in the insurance sector.

However, with the implementation of the change agenda, especially, starting with the inauguration of the new committee, experts expect the industry to come out of its shell and lead the financial sector in term of contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Modestus Anaesoronye