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By Chiamaka Ajeamo, [email protected]
The significance of a nation’s financial services sector such as insurance and pension sectors in accelerating economic growth and direct impact on poverty reduction cannot be overstated.
This is why financial analysts have affirmed that for a country to sustain the living standard of its citizens, minimise their risk of poverty and poor health, establishing a universal social security system would be imperative. But this important policy is becoming a major challenge to both developing and developed countries; and Nigeria may not be an exception.
It is against this backdrop that some experts have argued that embracing financial support schemes like insurance and pension would ensure that the foundation for poverty alleviation would be strong enough to keep more people out of poverty. This can also ensure that those who have risen above the poverty level against unforeseen events that may cause them to fall into poverty again; as well as offer a more secure financial future to contribute towards the prevention of old age poverty.
The former Director-General, Lagos State Pension Commission (LASPEC), Folashade Onanuga, citing a report by the World bank said “the World Bank estimates that the COVID-19 crisis will result in 10.9 million Nigerians falling into poverty by January 2022.”
Onanuga, delivering the theme paper ‘COVID-19 Impact on Financial Inclusion: Opportunities for Insurance & Pension Sectors’ at the sixth edition of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondent (NAIPCO) conference held recently in Lagos; said in this era of COVID-19, insurance and pension is what Nigerians need to lean on for a hopeful future.
“Unfortunately, the social security system in Nigeria is next to zero hence, it is important for individuals and businesses plan for unforeseen eventualities in order to survive”.
“If we have learned anything, the pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis have highlighted the critical need for a functional social security system to allow Nigerians achieve adequate standard of living”
“More than ever before, if you are serious about life, if you want to live a meaningful life, you need to plan yourself and that is why both insurance and pension is something we should all embrace as Nigerians.
“If you really want to remain in business, you must take insurance, in the event of sudden occurrence like the pandemic, insurance will help you to stand back on your feet; if because of the pandemic a breadwinner of a family dies, there must be a buffer to ensure that the family is not affected.
“Therefore, more than ever before, you find out that actually there is a need for both insurance and pension products to ensure that we continue to live and meet our needs of sustainable living, healthy living, wealthy living and of course, continuity in business. That is why it is important for all of us to identify that we have these needs for growth and continuity by taking up both insurance and pension products,” Onanuga said.
While stressing the need for Nigerians to adopt insurance and pension, she equally charged insurance and pension operators to be deliberately creative and innovative in their product development and services delivery, by ensuring that they focus on meeting the needs of the people. She noted that “people will embrace the products and services that meet their needs. The critical thing is meeting the need.”
In her goodwill message, the Director General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Aisha Dahir-Umar, called on Nigerians to embrace the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as a social security safety net.
Dahir-Umar, who was represented by the Commission’s Head, Corporate Communications, Peter Aghahowa, said the issue of gathering retirees physically in various locations across the country for verification is now a thing of the past with the online verification and enrolment portal recently launched by the Commission.
According to him, “Before now, we would congregate several retirees in different centres of the country to do the enrolment for the Treasury Funded retirees, and now that can be done online.
“I’m happy to announce that over 3,000 people have been enrolled through our online portal out of 11,000 expected to retire this year.
For his part, the Commissioner of Insurance and Chief Executive Officer, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Sunday Thomas, urged Nigerians in all walks of life to embrace insurance as a risk-mitigating mechanism.
Thomas who was represented by the Assistant Director, Market Development, NAICOM, Adeyemi Abubakar, commended the NAIPCO members for their consistency in organising the conference and utilising it as a platform to reach out to the public through their reportage on the ector to ensure the growth of the insurance business in Nigeria.
He, thereafter reminded media practitioners of their role as purveyors of information, awareness creation and catalysts of economic growth, just as he solicited the continued cooperation of the association for the growth of the industry.
He added that for the Nigerian insurance market to record significant growth and contribute adequately to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), all hands must be on deck, emphasising that the media has a critical role to play especially in sensitising the public on the benefits of insurance.
The Commissioner concluded that he believes that deepening insurance penetration can only be possible through a deliberate and sustained insurance awareness as this will lead to the realisation of the Federal Government’s financial inclusion initiative.
