Poverty, ignorance hinder insurance penetration in Nigeria, says expert
NAN-HE-13
Poverty
By Lucy Nwachukwu
Abuja, July 18, 2017 (NAN) An insurance expert, Mr Paul Ibe, on Tuesday said that the factors that hindered insurance penetration in the country were poverty and ignorance on the benefits of the scheme.
Ibe, the Head of Technical, Unity Kapital Insurance, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that many Nigerians were ignorant of the benefits of taking up insurance policies.
According to him, the prevalent level of poverty in the country also makes people prioritise their needs, hence striking insurance first whenever there is shortage.
He said when there was prosperity and people had the basic necessities of life, they would consider buying insurance policies.
Ibe stated that insurance was very key and people needed to be educated on its importance both to an individual and to the country’s economic growth.
He said,“ regulators and insurance operators needed to do more awareness on insurance education by letting people know through communications, through electronic and print media about insurance.
“We need to keep on educating the masses, print flyers and also we the practitioners ought to practise what we sell because that is one of the ways of encouraging people to participate.
“We need to be prompt in paying genuine claims and gradually when people start to see the benefits in payment of claims and all; they will then start keying into insurance”.
On the role of the regulators, Ibe said the regulators had done so much in ensuring the growth and progress of the sector and urged that them to continue to do more.
He said that due to the interference and efforts of the regulatory body, delays in the payment of genuine claims had become a thing of the past in the sector.
He said, “given our circumstances, given our position; given our level of development, I think our regulators are doing well enough.
“The regulators are gradually doing their best; as we stand today, there is no genuine claim in the industry that is not paid.
“This is because the regulator will bring it to bear on you the operator to pay the claims since you have accepted the premium and that is very good for the industry; so they are trying.(NAN)
LCN/IA
(Edited by Idris Abdulrahman)