Tuesday, June 09, 2020 / 11:45 AM / Bukola Akinyele for WebTV / Header Image Credit: @Olagamola
The National Insurance Commission has been tasked with
the responsibility of giving top priority to claims payment and data management
noted Mr. Ekerete Ola Gam-Ikon who was a guest on WebTV's Economy and Politics
programme that discussed "NAICOM Insurance Recapitalization Extension:
Implications For The Industry".
Reviewing the implications of the recapitalization
extension, Ola Gam-Ikon argued that NAICOM should have closed the issue on recapitalization
and moved on. According to him, NAICOM is taking the middle road of
having 50% capitalization at the end of the year and the remaining balance of
50% by September 2021.
He said that investors and policyholders will
have to do the hard work of determining where to go. He noted that there are
companies that are indebted to individual policyholders on claims while making
a mess of the efforts of NAICOM geared towards scaling up market
activity. He called for a broader approach to resetting the insurance
industry beyond recapitalization.
"The advantage of the extension of the
recapitalization deadline is for insurers who were not able to conclude the
process before COVID-19 to complete their capital raise," he said.
Speaking further he described Nigeria as one of the
countries with the highest capital base in insurance in Africa. He called on
NAICOM to provide a roadmap for the recapitalization process.
Speaking further, he stated that insurance is a
multi-billion naira industry, but is operating at 40% capacity which means
there is major headroom for growing the risk protection business. He emphasized
the need for NAICOM to vigorously pursue claim payments.
Some of the government agencies and parastatals he
identified include;
On the impact of the insurance industry in Nigeria, he
highlighted the fact in 2019 a total of N450bn Gross Premium was realized while
N300bn claims were paid in the same year.
In terms of contribution to national revenue, the
industry according to Ola Gam-Ikon paid over N300bn tax to the government in
2018.
He described Insurance as an economic stabilizer and
called on the Finance, Budget and National Planning Ministry to integrate the
industry into the nation's fiscal strategy.
Also, the insurance expert urged NAICOM and other
stakeholders to take seriously the promotion of innovative products that would
appeal to the millennials, who constitute a huge segment of the country's
population.
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