Insurance Practitioners Ignore Economic Summit

Over 90 percent of insurance practitioners in Nigeria  ignored the just concluded 17th Nigerian Economic Summit.

Insurance Chieftains who were believed to pull strings in government quarters were not in attendance at the summit even when National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) openly protested the trifling mention of insurance during the summit.

Stating his disappointment caused by the absence of operators, Mr Sunday Thomas, Director-General of Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA though confirmed the presence of few operators at the opening of the summit but whispered that majority of the practitioners could have had other pressing engagements that did not permit them to be at the summit.

Thomas said, “I quite accept that when we have this kind of a forum in the country, we should be present en-mass if are going to have an impact in the economy of this nation. We need to be part of policy formulations. Whether we like it or not, the resolutions of this summit are going to form part of what government looking at in the coming years”.

Mr Fola Daniel, Commissioner for Insurance who was abased by the massive absence of insurance companies’ chieftains at the 3-day 17th Nigerian Economic Summit, was peeved by the low attendance of insurance operators.

The few Insurance chieftains at the summit were: Mr Sunday Thomas, Director-General of Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA; Mrs Laide Osijo, President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB); Mr Jide Aminu, NCRIB Executive-Secretary; Mr Olakunle Oyegunle, General Manager (Operations) of Leadway Assurance Company and Patrick Oluyemi, Managing Director of Glanvils Enthoven Insurance Brokers

Of the 510 insurance brokers in the country, only Glanvill Enthoven MD attended and stayed for the whole of the summit and of the 51 insurance companies and 2 reinsurers, only Leadway Assurance Company’s GM, Operations was physically present at the 3-day summit whilst insurance agents did not make attempt to partake in the summit.

Daniel at the summit lamented, “You can see the docility of insurance practitioners because there was no reason why they should not attend the 17th Nigerian Economic Summit en-mass.  You can see a lot of stock brokers in the audience. If they were at the summit, they should have been able to point out that insurance was not accorded its recognition”.

He stated, “This is not a regulatory matter because we are talking about business. The regulator is just to set standards, procedures and processes but the real business people were not there”.

“If it is wholesalers’ which is what the brokers are and if the brokers are wholesalers, why would insurance operators sit in their offices and wait for brokers to give them business. Why can’t they focus on ordinary Nigerians that have a lot of money and won’t buy insurance on credit”.

“They don’t buy on credit but when you hear of premium deficit, it resides within the wholesale businesses but if you are selling to a retailer who is never going to buy it on credit, it will help companies’ liquidity, it will boost their ability to invest and it will enhance their relevance to the economy because it will make them a pool of life funds that cannot ignore”.

“One the things insurance needed at the summit was the need to develop the retail business. We focused too much on wholesale insurance. Insurance industry need to focus on retail insurance. I really glad that the Head of Service of the federation has reduced management expenses of insurance companies”.