During your tenure as the DG of the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), the Nigerian insurance companies realized a befitting edifice as the associationâs office, after years of desiring for one. How does this make you feel?
When I resumed at NIA, we were in the old building where I was always having monthly meetings.
I saw that beyond what we were having, there was the possibility to turn things around. With the support of the council, with the support of the companies, this happened.
From a story building, we now have a befitting six-storey building; that is the pride of the entire insurance industry, not just NIA. I am happy also because when you look at the building from the outside, you see the edifice, befitting for the entire industry.
And then what I realized is that coming into it is another thing, because you seetheambiancee is so warm, it is a workplace that makes you get the best out of the people that are working there. And it’s not just people walking in, it’s not just about putting the walls there and then you get in there and nothing is happening, it is inspiring. People have been here, not just within Nigeria.
If you go to Ghana, they are also now building their own Secretariat. They came here and they commented and commended us for what we have done and they said, they would want to go back to their home country and replicate that.
What are some other achievements that you would like to mention?
There are milestones and successes to be celebrated. Before now, many things were done manually, but we have platforms that people are leveraging on to achieve whatever they need to achieve when it comes to insurance matters.
Whether verification of insurance certificates, to authenticate whether this one is genuine, or whether to make things easy. For example, we have the trade Portal through which banks can ascertain that marine certificates that people are carrying are genuine.
Before, when a customer in the banking hall presents a paper, they need to put a call across and say is this certificate issued by you? But that’s no longer the case. Everything uploaded onto their own trade Portal is managed by the Central Bank, and you can confirm the genuineness of the certificate that any customer is carrying.
We moved on from there to have the USSD code, working with NIBSS, to say people can verify the genuineness of the policy, and from there we moved on to the Nigeria Insurance Industry Database (NIID).
That becomes a central thing that all enforcement agents are now using to ascertain the genuineness of the cover that people present to them. It started with the motor, but it was not just the motor that is there now, later, marine came on board.
Now, we have Occupier’s Liability, builders, and liability insurance. We’re now working with the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to enable them to ascertain the genuineness of the cover presented to them in respect of group life. And that’s not going to be the end, it is going to be on and on. So that’s something worth celebrating.
During your tenure, the NIA produced a commissioner for insurance among other achievements by your members. How does this make you feel?
I want to say in terms of human resources, when you look at people that I have to work with, out of among us, we now have a Secretary General for the West African Insurance Companies Association Secretariat.
I don’t think without the polishing here and there, that would have been possible because they also felt inspired with the encouragement that you can do anything, you can go for it, go for the position, why not you? So in competing with all other people across the sub-region, one of my staff here got the position.
Well, I’m also proud that the last Chairman that I worked with at NIA is now the regulator for the entire industry, and I believe all these people in various areas that they’re, they will do very well and make a difference. So it’s time for all of us to make a difference within the insurance industry and I believe together, we can do. I got the entire management staff to work with me; the support of the council, the various people that have chaired the council within the seven years that I have been here, they’ve all been very fantastic and supportive.
Have the insurance companies significantly improved their capacities to carry more risks and respond to claims faster?
The Nigerian insurance companies paid N669.4bn in claims in 2023. Yes, the insurance industry can carry any risk, and I want to say that without any fear. This is because of the way insurance works, at a time we saw claims payments as a major issue.
