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Deaths: Insurers plan special cover for Nollywood artistes

By on July 16, 2014

Sudden deaths, health challenges and other losses being recorded in the Nigerian entertainment industry have made the practitioners to embrace special insurance covers specifically designed for the Nollywood artistes by member companies of the Nigerian Insurers Association.

Like their counterparts in the United States and European countries where there are insurance policies for the artistes and their equipment, the Nigerian thespians and the body of insurers are in serious negotiations for the introduction of innovative products to mitigate potential losses by the artistes.

The entertainment industry in the country has in recent times lost many of its talented members to various ailments, while many others are exposed to work hazards such as kidnap and accidents which leave their dependants to bear the losses alone.

As a result, the creative talents have approached the insurance sector to develop special products for them.

The Director-General, Nigerian Insurers Association, Mr. Sunday Thomas, told our correspondent that the technical department of the body was working with the Nollywood industry to come up with policies for the entertainment industry.

“The committee has made tremendous progress in this regard. Various sub-committees have been set up to look into the various policies available for the entire industry as practised in more advanced countries, especially the United Kingdom,” he said.

According to him, the work of the various sub-committees is at an advanced stage.

Thomas said the committees would soon present their reports after which a harmonised copy would be produced for the onward submission to the council of the NIA.

The director-general said that the assignment would be completed by the third quarter of this year.

The Group Managing Director, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, Mr. Akin Ogunbiyi, said the firm had already come up with innovative covers for the entertainment industry, which were not yet common in the Nigerian insurance industry.

He said the company recently inaugurated 36 insurance products such as lady life insurance, celebrity insurance and Nollywood insurance policies.

Ogunbiyi stressed the relevance of insurance in developing the entertainment industry and protecting their lives and assets.

He said that the firm had identified products that could add value to the public and was providing them.

Ogunbiyi said that in developed economies, insurance was the rallying point for all other sectors, but regretted that it had not yet got to that level in Nigeria, adding that the company had devised strategies for specific segments of the society.

The Nigerian Entertainment Industry Lecture Series also observed that lack of a unified form of health insurance policy and ignorance had led to the untimely and unavoidable deaths of several prominent entertainers in the music and movie industries.

“Amidst the perceived and misconstrued stupendous wealth on display, most of them later resort to the very degrading act of public begging to raise large sums of money for their medical bills when the tides turn,” it stated.

The NEILS said this had made it essential to introduce health insurance policies to the entertainment industry and the society at large.

It stated that plans were also on to customise the learning and education platform for practitioners and members of the public at large to understand the importance of health insurance and embrace it.

 

 

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