To drive Federal Government initiatives on financial inclusion and wealth creation in the country, experts in the business world have called on Nigerians to embrace insurance products and services as mitigation mechanisms to replace damaged assets that were earlier insured.
Experts, who converged at a webinar organised by the Managing Director of Coronation Insurance Plc, Olamide Olajolo, moderated by CNBC Africa Anchor, Wole Famurewa, agreed that at this hard economy times, insurance remains the backbone of Nigeria’s risk management.
The webinar, which had selected experts in the panel discussion included: Adedeji Olowe, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Lendsqr; and Babatunde Akin Moses, Chief Executive Officer of Sycamore. ng; and Yemisi Isidi, Chief Executive Officer of Triift Africa said that insurance still represents an important component in the financial intermediation chain and remains the anchor of Nigeria’s risk management.
Speaking at the meeting, the keynote speaker who is the Founder/Chief Executive Officer, Lendsqr Adedeji Olowe, said insurance is a key element in the financial inclusion strategy, saying, insurance remains one of the best tools for wealth creation.
According to him, insurance is required in all human undertakings, he added that a life without insurance is hopeless, comparing such a life to a driver who drives without using a seat belt.
To him, “a driver can drive for years without using a seat belt, but the day he gets involved in an accident, there would be nothing to save him from such disaster.
He maintained that it would be difficult to build a last wealth without leveraging insurance as risk mitigating measure, stressing that insurance helps a great deal in preserving wealth.”
Suggesting that there should be continuous insurance education and awareness, he called for enforcement of compulsory insurance, robust deployment of technology; embedment of insurance in goods and services, robust storytelling; enlistment of prominent citizens – clerics, transitional leaders, and celebs amongst other strategies.
Olowe urged insurance practitioners that they should live up to their responsibilities in claims payment, as most people don’t buy insurance owing to the attitude of some underwriters who aren’t paying claims promptly.
The Chief Executive Officer of Sycamore.ng, Babatunde Moses, who is also a member of the panel of discussants, said insurance makes it easy for business owners to access credit. noting that no finance house would grant credit facilities to an individual without insurance to protect the facility.
Individuals seeking micro-credit, have to show proof of insurance especially loss of job insurance, before their request are granted, he said. He urged business owners to leverage insurance in growing their businesses, as it is difficult to replace lost items in present Nigeria without insurance.
Moreover, the Chief Executive Officer, Triift Africa, Yemisi Isidi, said insurance is a system of paying now to save later, noting that, insurance is the major resort for small business owners to keep their businesses afloat.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director, Coronation Insurance Plc, Olamide Olajolo, said, the broader objectives of the event are to create awareness of Coronation Insurance’s products, increase the mailing list for client acquisition, improve brand visibility and reputation, and position the underwriter as a thought leader in the financial services space.
He noted that insurance is a pooling system that enables policyholders to contribute funds that are used to cater to those who suffer mishaps.
In a volatile market where a single event could wipe out a lifetime’s work, they all agreed insurance played a critical role in both personal and business survival, saying, “by creating a pool of capital in which the good fortune of the many assured the survival of the few who encountered misfortune, insurance had a critical role to play – primarily by making sure that Nigerians didn’t rely on their savings or assets to cover losses.”
Panelists believe that the attitude to insurance could be changed in Nigeria by providing practical examples of how simple insurance products could sustain financial inclusion by protecting income and investment.
They were also at pains to demonstrate the value of insurance, especially to businesses. Simple, affordable, products like health and life insurance for business owners, for example, could save a family or a small business owner from being wiped out by the ill health of the breadwinner or single business operator, they stressed.
