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By Henry Uche, [email protected]
Amid the low levels of insurance penetration and its contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), experts have proffered solutions on how more Nigerians can learn about its advantages and gain more acceptance.
Determined to position the industry alongside other key sectors that drive national growth, experts have designed an operational blueprint for Mr. Kunle Ahmed, the new chairman of the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), an umbrella body established in 1971 for all insurance and reinsurance companies in Nigeria.
At his investiture which held recently in Lagos, Ahmed, the 26th NIA chairman, charged stakeholders to uphold the principles of integrity, transparency, and excellence that define the profession.
Ahmed, who is the Chief Executive Officer of AXA Mansard Insurance, highlighted strategic areas of priorities, which are; Customer satisfaction, growth and impact on the economy, advocacy and inter- governmental relationships, digital innovation, claims and technical excellence, education and human capacity development.
The NIA chairman revealed that having spent some time with past chairmen of the association, he has learned many valuable lessons on how he can make the sector better.
“Ensuring the satisfaction of our clients and partners should be of interest to all of us. Ease of onboarding clients, provision of advisory services and elimination to the barest minimum of conflicts during claims processing, are some of the actions that can potentially increase customer satisfaction.
“We need to reshape the insurance models to address the current needs of our clients (and potential clients) and position the industry for the future. We can’t stick to the old ways of serving our customers and expect to achieve the growth that we all desire.”
He said the NIA would confront current challenges, remain agile, forward-thinking, collaborate with industry stakeholders to grow the market and seek innovative ways to respond to the ever-dynamic needs of policyholders.
“The theme of my tenure is digital disruption and social insurance, re-shaping of our traditional models. During my tenure, we will be working with all government agencies on the need to include insurance in the formulation of their policies and programmes.
“My predecessors moved the needle significantly in this area, but advocacy topics are never static. Specifically, NIA, under my leadership, will work with other stakeholders to harness opportunities arising from government initiatives, collaborate with insurance industry stakeholders on the implementation of our 10-year strategic roadmap.
“We will launch an innovation challenge and invite various selected partners to pitch solutions for some of our current processes. We will evaluate the pitches and select the solution that can potentially thrust the industry forward.”
The risk management expert explained that NIA currently has Nigerian Insurance Industry Database (NIID) and Nigerian Insurance Industry Portal (NIIP) platforms for onboarding motor and marine customers and would explore the possibility of digital collation and tracking of claims payment to delight customers and reduce insurance fraud. He assured that the association, in conjunction with NAICOM, will explore the possibility of digitally collating industry financial results to ensure the state of affairs of the industry is easily accessible and remains current.
“We would upgrade the digital capabilities of the NIA secretariat to meet and respond to the growing demands of the public. We’ll work with market stakeholders to self-regulate and enforce market best practices amongst members from the point of onboarding a client to claims payment. We must continually look for a reason to pay a claim, rather than look for a reason not to pay a claim,” he said.
He urged for support from the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB); Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Institute of Loss Adjusters (ILAN), and the Association of Registered Insurance Agents (ARIAN).
“We want to ensure standardisation of pricing so that each client is charged the price that is commensurate with their risk. Also, collaborating with industry stakeholders to ensure Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) practices is our top priority. Moreover, we are concerned about research and collaboration with stakeholders both locally and internationally on how to mitigate the effect of inflation and other vagaries of the economy on claims payout.
“We will collaborate with the insurers committee on the plan to birth an insurance TV series. In our quest to catch them young, we will institute a quiz, debate and essay competition on insurance amongst secondary school students and collaborate with the CIIN on support and internship opportunities for university students,” he said.
Expressing optimism over the likely passage of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Bill and the implementations of its provisions, he said that the industry would be awash with more opportunities thereby increasing expectations.
“We challenge ourselves to be more creative, to remove ambiguities from our policy documents and ensure that we are always fair to our clients,” he said.
We equally need to re-shape our traditional models; this will put us in a better position to meet the ever-evolving needs of our clients.
“I assure you that we would raise the bar a notch higher under my tenure. We would build on your achievements and focus more on areas that require improvements whilst managing emerging challenges” he averred.
Reacting to his promises, a former Chairman of NIA and the President/Chairman of Governing Board, of Risk Managers Society of Nigeria (RIMSON), Mr. Gus Wiggle, in a telephone interview said; “There is no better time for robust collaboration between insurance operators and regulators than now, given the exceptional leadership at the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
“I eagerly anticipate that the new Chairman will translate these words into action, fostering seamless partnerships with the NAICOM to propel the industry toward unprecedented growth and substantial contribution to Nigeria’s GDP and not forgetting the consumers”
On his part, a risk management professional and insurance consultant, who is also the immediate past president of Risk managers Society of Nigeria (RIMSON), Mr. Raymond Akalonu, added that Mr. Kunle Ahmed knows the industry challenges, but would implore him to remain focused in providing innovative solutions to the industry challenges. “Let him stay focused on all his promises and innovative solutions to the myriad of challenges facing the industry,” he advised.
For the Deputy General Manager; Corporate Communications & Investor Relations at Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Mr. Seegun Bankole, no operator or or individual should be given preferential treat and no one in the entire insurance value chain should go scot -free when found guilty of any offense.
“Let the stakeholders in the insurance space must play by the rules of the business in a very professional manner. There should not be any sacred cow that can’t be touched if such a practitioner has been found wanting” he insisted.
