Insurance tap into mobile platform to deepen policy uptake

The Federal Government is to scrap the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and 219 state agencies and parastatals, while it works out the modalities for the merger of other agencies, in line with the Steve Orosanye committee on the restructuring and rationalisation of the civil service.

This is one of the highlights of the June 11, 2013 meeting of the Review Committee on the draft white paper on the Steve Oronsanye committee report. The review committee was chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The committee in its report, had recommended the total scrapping of some government agencies and the merging of others, for leaner operations, in line with government’s shrinking resources.

Currently, the Federal Government has 541 agencies, of which only 321 survived the exercise which is expected to commence soon.

The review committee also approved that budgetary allocation to bodies such as the Surveyors Registration Council (SRC) and the Council for Registered Engineers (COREN) be stopped from 2015.

While the list of those to be

inforces the National Insurance Commission’s (NAICOM’s) market development and restructuring initiative, targeted at deepening insurance penetration, particularly to the grass roots, in a simple, convenient and affordable platform.

The product “Padi4life” is a life protection plan, available to registered Airtel subscribers upon payment of a daily premium of N20. It provides all Airtel subscribers the opportunity to take daily insurance cover as low as N20 for permanent disability or death, providing benefit of N500, 000.00 for one Airtel line and N1 million for two lines.

To enroll for this service, Airtel subscribers just require to text LIFE to 45433 on their phones and follow the prompts they receive.

FBN Life, with this product is the first insurance company in Nigeria to embark on this innovative and revolutionary method of

weekend

selling life insurance protection, having been supported strongly by its ownership strength of FBN HoldingsPlc and the Sanlam Group of South Africa, whose combined wealth of experience and expansive network places the company at an advantage to lead on consumer friendly and affordable insurance products.”

Val Ojumah, managing director FBN, said at the media unveiling of the product on Monday, that “this strategic objective is in consonance with our mandate to efficiently deploy inexpensive and simple insurance protection products across channels and market segments. This is in line with our vision to build the biggest retail insurance business in Nigeria. “ We are pursuing strategic opportunities in partnership with other financial service businesses and mobile network operators, on key initiatives to increase penetration and distribution of our products.

“It is one thing I as person will continue to remember; particularly that it is going to take care of the poor and less opportune in our society, who otherwise would not have thought of insurance.”

Deepack Srivastava, COO and executive director, Airtel, said “it is not about network now, but about products that create value and improve the lives of our customers.

He said he was attracted by the professionalism and great ideas coming from FBN Life and accepted to be part of this partnership and add value to the lives of Nigerians.

Ayodeji Bankole, head distribution at FBN Life, said the insurance company was concerned about the challenge of product distribution in the country, and in partnering with Airtel, had taken care of these challenges, including access, premium collection and cost management.

He observed that the code to accessing this product, 45433 means protection for life; means that school fees, rents can be paid even in the absence of the bread winner; and in some cultures, it can take care of funeral expences