Insurance Penetration: NAICOM emphasises reforms
The Federal Government of Nigeria on Thursday, March 8, 2018 inaugurated a new Governing Board for the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM). The Board is chaired by Chief Emmanuel Jideoffor Nwosu, with other distinguished Nigerian professional as members.
Insurance Penetration: NAICOM emphasises reforms
The Nigerian insurance industry regulatory authority, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has continued to emphasized the importance of reforms as a catalyst for industry growth.
The Commission has also expressed worry that the industry has under-performed the banking sector and the recently established Pension sector and promised to fashion out development plan to reposition the industry.
Based on the foregoing, the Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Alhaji Muhhamed Kari, said the industry will continue to introduce new reforms and initiatives in line with international best practices to achieve growth potentials of the sector and called on the support and cooperation of the industry’s operators.
Speaking at the first Annual Insurers’ Committee Retreat held in Park Inn hotel, Abeokuta, Ogun State recently, the NAICOM boss said “Suffice it to say that these reforms will not stop but continue. We shall continue to introduce new reforms and initiatives in line with international best practices in our march towards achieving our full potentials.
“As we all already know, insurance in Nigeria has under-performed the banking sector and even the recently established pensions sector. For us as the industry regulator and supervisor, we have chosen to elevate the regulatory ladder. We cannot therefore over emphasize the paramount importance for us to fashion a development plan for the repositioning of the sector.
“We believe that once we can successfully navigate this corner, we could be on our way to entrenching a financially solid, vibrant, viable and active insurance sector that would bring about not only an increase in penetration but the industry’s contribution to GDP, accumulation of long-term funds for infrastructural financing, job creation, and an improved standard of living, he added.
Speaking further, he said, “It is long overdue that we make a change in the right direction. Successful economies are characterized by a strong investment culture of which the insurance industry plays a vital role. So we literally need to re-energize the insurance industry and commence playing our key role in boosting and growing our sector, and the Nigerian economy.
“Suffice it to say that in all of these, capital is key. It is for this purpose that one of the key presentations for the programme was “Enabling Soundness and Profitability of Insurers through Optimal Capitalisation”.
“We have also long identified the potentials inherent in embracing financial inclusion products in the growth of the industry. It is this realization that led the Commission into introducing financial inclusion products into the market a few years back. We are glad that Takaful and Microinsurance is now taking firm root in the industry. It is also noteworthy that insurance companies have started to make good attempts at shifting focus from corporate segment to retail segment of the market.
“Notwithstanding this encouraging development in the retail end of the market, it is obvious that the industry needs to do much more in this area. To give us an insight as to what we should be doing as an industry in terms of financial inclusion products, we will be listening to a presentation on “National Financial Inclusion Strategy and the Agenda for Insurers,”” Kari added.
