Expert Urges Government To Be Responsible For Its Insurance Obligations
L-R: Dr. Abiodun Adedipe, Chief Consultant, B.Adedipe Associates Limited in hand-shake with Chief Babajide Olatunde-Agbeja, Chairman/CEO, Boff and Company Insurance Brokers Ltd, during the Media Parley jointly organised by their companies for Members of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Journalists (NAIPCO) in Lagos recently.
For the insurance sector to grow, the government need also to be responsible for its insurance obligations especially on the issue of paying premiums, Chief Consultant of B. Adedipe Associates Limited, Dr. Biodun Adedipe, has said.
Adedipe who was speaking at a media parley jointly sponsored by Boff Insurance Brokers Limited and B. Adedipe Associates Limited, in Lagos, also called for flexibility even as he emphasized the need to ensure enforcement of compulsory insurance which he said had always been an issue.
“If the government is responsible and put a lot of effort into enforcement, then what we have today as compulsory insurance is what we can actually create more value from. And when the insurance sector is vibrant, it will galvanize businesses and individuals to take risks and that is how economies grow.
“The freedom to take risk is on the back of a vibrant insurance sector, so the conversation should be how do we make that sector vibrant and that brings us to involve more interactions between government agencies and the insurance sector so that all the stakeholders constantly are engaging and so whatever is needed to be done to make us deepen insurance, the government will keep making that happen.”
On the economy generally, Adedipe said: “The price of crude has been favourable to us. It is either you use the gain to reduce the deficit, or alternatively, you use that gain to build infrastructure, which ultimately will also increase government revenue.”
Adedipe also warned that the forthcoming election could create liquidity pressures in the economy as there will be too much money in circulation.
He said: “In pre-election years, politicians spend a lot of money and that creates liquidity pressure. You have so much money circulating and that stands to put pressure on prices, so it will be expected this year that there will be inflationary pressure.”
Adedipe also decried the high volume of imports against exports in the country, stating, “In recent years, imports value in Nigeria had become far greater than exports. Yes, we export crude oil, we export condensates, as well as associated gas. In spite of that, we have been importing more than exporting and that has been creating employment for other countries to the detriment of our country.”
Adedipe noted that there is nothing wrong with borrowing, adding that, “but don’t borrow to buy food, don’t borrow for consumption, if you must borrow, borrow for anything that is an investment in nature. We produce crude oil but don’t refine”
