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Insurance critical to economic transformation – Oteh

By on September 13, 2013

Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Ms. Arunma Oteh, on Tuesday in Abuja, stressed the importance of micro insurance to transforming the Nigerian economy.

Speaking at the International micro insurance conference organised by National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Oteh said the more the number of Nigerians able to participate in the economy, the more robust it would become.

The focus on micro insurance at the event organised in collaboration with development partners with the theme: Promoting micro insurance in Nigeria, she said, “is exciting.” This, she said, is because a major challenge of the nation’s country “is that not so many of the 167 million people participate in the economy, and I believe that this exercise in helping us understand micro insurance better is important.

“What we want is for Nigerians to be able to participate in the economy and I believe that micro insurance is absolutely essential in that regard. If we do not focus on micro insurance, we will not transform our society.

“We believe that as SEC, the apex regulator of the Nigerian capital market, the transformation in the insurance sector is critical for the transformation of Nigeria.i don’t think that despite the fact that we have had the insurance industry existing for several years that people realise the importance of insurance to our lives.

“Whether it is agriculture, whether it is housing among others… The housing sector in America was strengthened because of mono line insurance, because of credit enhancement that insurance provides,” she stressed.

The DG said insurance is also critical in managing lives, in such areas as health insurance, which permeates society, expressing very strong sentiments about the importance of insurance in transforming the economy and the country.

The DG commended NAICOM for such transformation efforts in the industry as compulsory insurance, which she said means that premiums are rising, and that those premiums are investable assets in the capital market.

 

 

[Daily Independent]