Every Association Should Have Group Life Insurance Policy
By Ekerete Ola Gam-Ikon
At the launching of the 2024 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Emblem, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR announced that he had approved the payment of N18b as benefits to the families of members of the Armed Forces.
#InsuranceWorks as I say repeatedly these days…
Inarguably, we had issues especially within the insurance industry in Nigeria those days, when competition was low and paying claims promptly was not the priority. However, with stiffer regulations and greater awareness amongst the insuring public, the insurance experiences are better.
Also, with the entrance of foreign insurance brands into the Nigerian insurance market, we are increasingly having higher quality of services and innovative products coupled with convenient distribution channels, thanks to insurtech start-ups.
To be informed is to be transformed when we discuss insurance in Nigeria these days.
Interestingly, more Nigerians are becoming aware of the advantages of having Group Life Assurance Policy and have been asking questions about it including requests for virtual meetings to enable opportunities for Q & A. We are happy to engage in this respect and encourage ourselves to prepare better for the ultimate departure of our relatives, friends and associates.
We are making progress as communities to respond to the challenges we face at times like these when the economy has become harsher and the ideas of yesterday cannot assure us of that better tomorrow we anticipated.
Today, the awareness level of insurance amongst us is forcing many to wonder and ask ‘what is the essence of belonging to a WhatsApp group and not have Group Life Assurance Policy but task members to make contributions when a member passes on?’
Over time, we have answered the basic question of why you need a Group Life Assurance Policy, yet because of the low trust amongst the insuring public regarding the strength of insurance companies, we have other questions to answer.
For example, how do you know when your insurer is distressed especially if the CEO is your friend or relative?
The insurance industry in Nigeria has remained in the realm of relationship for too long. If we must get the operators and regulatory bodies to deliver excellent services, we need to be more demanding and raise the bar accordingly.
Please understand that you can avail yourself of appropriate knowledge, access and afford products especially Group Life Assurance Policy from Life Specialist companies, Microinsurance and Takaful Insurance Companies.
There is insurance for everyone today and with insurtech, you can recreate yours, and claims payments have equally been simplified.
Questions evoke answers but demands evoke improvements!
Let’s make Group Life Assurance work for us. Start today.
YOUR RISKS (NEEDS) SHOULD DETERMINE YOUR INSURANCE POLICIES
By Ekerete Ola Gam-Ikon
Many of us have easily asserted that if we were not compelled, we would not have any insurance policy. This is often attributed to the “little or no value” manner that we interact with insurance, whether through agents, brokers, consultants or directly with insurers.
It is a well-known fact that to offer value, and indeed exchange value for money with any individual or organization, you have to understand what the buyer is looking for.
Through decades of promoting insurance as the most tested tool for risk management, I have realized that Nigerians rather buy insurance for these reasons:
• To avoid being denied access; and
• To receive appreciation for patronage.
So, you can clearly begin to understand that while insurers are selling to enable us protect ourselves and wealth from risks, our reasons for buying are different, hence the growing disconnect between the insuring public and the insurance industry in Nigeria.
Let’s thoroughly examine our reasons for buying insurance against the probable singular reason for selling.
• *To Avoid Being Denied Access*
Even when there is a law that stipulates that we should have insurance, we are ready to beat it, just as we beat other laws, and willing to settle law enforcement officers if and when caught violating the laws.
With respect to insurance, it is Third Party Motor Insurance that best represents our reason for buying insurance. We do not want to be denied access to using the road.
Even then, we prefer to use the fake certificate or settle the officers on the road.
Efforts being made to bring awareness of the benefits of the Third Party Motor Insurance Policy remain challenging because the reason for buying it has also been conflicting.
Besides seeking to avoid being denied access, you would think that risks of accidents, fire, theft and other perils should mean a lot to us but surprisingly we are cool with confronting those risks whenever they crystallize!
If we are not denied access, we will not buy insurance!
Next, let’s look at our organizations, which buy insurance because we want to avoid being denied access to government contracts at Federal and State levels. We buy insurance and obtain certificates that are submitted along with other statutory documents as required by the tenders advertised regularly.
So, even as organizations, we are buying insurance to avoid being denied access to government contracts, and not really to get the value of insurance being sold by the insurers.
Once we have the insurance certificates, our business with the insurance companies remain in suspense until the next time we need their documents.
In the private sector, similar requirements are now being made especially to manage the pressure from friends and relatives that seek contracts. So, for the reason to avoid being denied access, we buy insurance and obtain relevant documents as well.
• *To Receive Appreciation for Patronage*
This reason for buying insurance is more widespread than the first one because as an individual or owner of organization, the process of decision-making is shortened. However, we know about gatekeepers or better put, facilitators, within and outside our environments.
Quite often, individuals, organizations and governments are made to buy insurance because we, the facilitators, want to be appreciated. Without the push from us, no matter how valuable the insurance products may be, the insurers would not sell, if there is no understanding between us and the insurers on appreciating us for patronizing them.
This practice is so predominant in government environment that insurance is almost being reclassified from professional services to contracts, and insurance companies from service providers to contractors!
Everyone likes to be appreciated for helping others achieve their results and THANK YOU has now been redefined from words to actions in line with our senses. Appreciation can now be thought of, felt, smelt, seen, heard and tasted.
Recently, in a conversation on this subject of appreciation, I was reminded that it is common practice in business but I pointed out that we should be careful with any insurer that overtly appreciates us at the point of purchase, because, in the event of claims, we may be denied payment.
• *Reconciling our Reasons with Value*
While we continue to buy insurance for the reasons shared here rather than those anticipated by the sellers (insurers), for our survival through the economic hardships we are facing, it would be necessary to reconcile our reasons with the benefits and value insurance provides.
Irrespective of why we buy insurance, let us understand that as a unique product enabling us recover from financial losses, we can enjoy its value if we do not seek to have it in advance.
Sometimes, we buy insurance but when the unexpected happens, our minds do not go to the insurance we bought because we had taken the benefits upfront.
Insurance is the best recovery management process I know and posit that we can create a more respectable access for ourselves than take actions to avoid being denied access.
We need to unthink and rethink our reasons for buying insurance to align with the reasons the insurers are selling to enjoy the full value of insurance.
Ekerete Ola Gam-Ikon writes through this WhatsApp number 234-802-585-0344 and email address olagamola@gmail.com
