Tuesday, December 21, 2021 /10:20 AM
/ OpEd By Ekerete Ola Gam-Ikon
/ Header Image Credit: Ecographics
Earlier in the year, as the challenges of COVID-19
pandemic raged on, individuals and businesses were seemingly settling down to
accept the option of insurance as one of the ways to address the issue and
restore confidence in the relationships between employers and employees. Even
striking workers wanted their insurance packages to be in place as part of the
conditions for returning to work.
Insurance had become the next critical discourse after
the vaccine in many places, and some Nigerians, rather than sit back and say
"Insurance doesn't work in Nigeria", were looking for the insurance
operators that make it work; just as the regulator, National Insurance
Commission (NAICOM) was getting more enquiries about the conditions for
effecting insurance contracts.
For example, a couple of top business executives
inquired about taking out Individual Life Insurance Policies in foreign
denominated currencies; a situation that challenged, not only the capacity of
the local insurers but also one that revealed how the exchange rate was
stiffening the opportunities for insurance growth. Being in a position to pay
the claims that arose from Dollar-denominated insurance policies is one of the
challenges that exist for some insurers today.
Yet, the enquiries and opportunities have heightened
as more people have listened to the workability of insurance and better
understood its role in our lives and those of businesses and our economy.
The word out there is resilience and insurance has
remained the single most critical factor for economies to attain it.
Lessons from COVID-19
Individuals, businesses and governments across the
world, following the damning effect of the pandemic, came to appreciate that
there was need to prepare, and indeed budget, for the unexpected. Then beyond
that, also considered recovery management when the unfortunate events take
place and leave ugly pictures in our minds.
Whilst many would not see the relief actions of
governments and businesses as insurance, the conversations have continued to
reveal the relevance of insurance as the most potent risk management mechanism
for addressing both the planning and responses when crises hit us.
The old and persistent approach of announcing relief
packages by governments when disasters and crises occur should be phased out
while the insurance sector steps in to provide succour in a faster and more
sustainable manner, as we have seen elsewhere.
Today, it has become easier to predict even natural
disasters like the California bushfire and hurricanes to the extent that the
damages they will cause to people's homes and properties are determinable, and
the compensations through insurance are defined and duly paid.
Getting our Insurers
Ready
Winning the trust of people begins with showing up to
hear their questions and comments, and responding to them, then doing what you
promise per time.
Engaging Nigerians who have survived the ugly
experiences of COVID-19 pandemic towards embracing insurance requires a totally
different approach by insurers.
It might seem to be in the nature of the Nigerian to
doubt everything including the thing that will keep him/her alive or provide
access to the much desired wealth. However when you have won the hearts of
some, their words become so loud that the traffic to your end, whether physical
or virtual, would tend to be uncontrollable.
Winning hearts must become the core strategy for
insurance operators in Nigeria as we live through COVID-19 pandemic and its
variants.
As the campaign for Nigerians to take the vaccines
intensifies, insurance operators should be in the frontline encouraging people,
possibly by offering their premises as centres.
Our insurance operators should be seen to be offering
Life Protection solutions through different insurance products in this season
where our fears have not ebbed even with the arrival of vaccines.
The opportunity to engage people are rife and real but
insurance operators seem to be relaxing back to the old ways in this new season
and the outcomes of such approach are predictable.
Leading the New
Engagement
It will probably take similar ingenuity demonstrated
by NAICOM in April 2020 to earn the Presidential appreciation after the
donation of the insurance industry to the fight against COVID-19, for the gains
not to be lost.
The Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA) has equally
demonstrated that it can lead such public engagement towards winning hearts,
however, it continues to struggle with the imbalance amongst its members when
meeting financial obligations is discussed. Notwithstanding, extending a hand
of friendship to other sectors as part of the Association's monthly activities
could drive effective steps towards winning hearts.
For example, it is expected that the leadership of the
insurance industry will interact with that of the real estate developers to
reset the environment that would ease the process of insuring buildings under
construction and avoiding any future repeat of the issues linked to the
"uninsured" 21st storey building that collapsed in Ikoyi.
The National Council of Registered Insurance Brokers
(NCRIB) has strengthened its position as "the voice for insurance
professionals in the marketplace" yet a lot more is expected from them
regarding the engagement of the insurance buyers. Adding a monthly engagement
for insurance consumers by sector to the popular monthly meetings with
insurance companies could enhance the efforts towards winning hearts.
Every other stakeholder in the insurance industry
including Loss Adjusters and Agents should find a role in the efforts at
winning hearts into the sector after COVID-19 pandemic had opened the door.
Nigerians should wake up and see more adverts online
and receive more invitations through their phones from insurance operators
because since COVID-19, more people rely on these media for information and
updates.
Our lives are not returning to the days before
COVID-19, so whatever did not work then, will not work now and only changes in
adaptive ways will convince the kind of persons the insurance sector is looking
to win.
Different
actions beget different people and the time for the insurance sector to win
some, is NOW!
About The Author
Ekerete Olawoye Gam-Ikon, MNIM,
CPP, is a management consultant with a specialization in Strategy and
Insurance. You can contact him via e:mail olagamola@gmail.com and mobile +234-806-648-1111
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