Task ahead as Insurers Committee works new image for industry

The average Nigerian does not understand the meaning and benefits of insurance. They also do not know it’s an important part of financial planning. And because it has not been a culture in this part of the world, most people are ignorant and this has made growth of the industry difficult despite a lot of efforts by the operators in past years.

There is also a bad image, which originated from the early practice of the business where insurance companies failed to pay claims and this left a bad impression about the industry. Initial consumers given this treatment hated the word insurance and even those who never had anything to do with insurance carry the same notion and handed it to not only their own generations but to future generations.

That is why in most cases insurance is sold and not bought because most people do not willingly go by the product expect by coercion.

So when insurance sales people approach consumers, only few people show readiness to listen when he tries to sell them on the benefits of buying insurance. As for the majority, they will cut you short, bring up another topic, or hit the roof.

While the industry has transformed over the years, not many Nigerians have come to terms with changing their mind set and embracing insurance. They have lacked patient to be educated and so continue to lose out in the benefits of the product and as an important part of financial planning.

Insurance today occupies prominent position in the budgeting of organizations and institutions because they understand and appreciate risk management as part of their growth priorities. They therefore, allocate resources annually to insurance and when losses occur they make claims, and this has become testimonies for most corporate institutions that have experienced huge losses, accounting for why most insurance premium continue to come from corporate institution businesses.

In fact, this is given, as no company or institution that worth its sort fails to budget and spend for insurance annually.

But for individual and social groups, a lot of education still needs to be done as many people are just ignorant rather than hesitant. If there is therefore proper awareness creation in a language that they can understand, and the products delivered strategically where they  provide  convenience, and at prices that are affordable, the insurance industry is will make a lot of progress. This will not only affect penetration in terms of density it will also result in growth in revenue and increased contribution to GDP.

The new move announced recently by the ‘Insurance Committee’ to rebrand the insurance industry is a welcome development if it will be communicated appropriately and sustained over time. 

According to them, the decision to rebrand the industry is to showcase its unique importance to Nigerians, especially the younger generation who constitute the largest segment of the population presently.

The rebranding initiative was one of the key decisions taken at the Insurers Committee Meeting held in Lagos.

Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, vice chairman, Media and Publicity Committee of the body said the aim of the rebranding initiative is to emphasize the benefits of insurance and change the mindset of Nigerians on the general insurance industry.

Nwachukwu added that the second aspect will involve pushing insurance companies operating in the country to up the ante on service delivery to their insured with the aim of having fewer complaints from such clients going forward.

Towards that goal, the Insurers Committee has already appointed a specialist to advise it on the key components of the rebranding strategy while discussions are on-going on the implementation timeline.

Modestus Anaesoronye