By Bakare Tunde
Stakeholders in the insurance sector have expressed optimism that the new Insurance Consolidated Bill passed by the Senate will drive efficiency in the sector’s growth trajectory when President Bola Tinubu finally endorses it in 2025.
The industry players who contacted The Guardian at the weekend welcomed the passage of the Bill. They noted that the legislation will unlock the growth, prosperity, and potential of the insurance sector and that passage has also marked a significant milestone in the country’s efforts to revive the insurance industry after nearly two decades.
Before the passage of the bill, the sector was far from meeting the local content objectives of the Federal Government as it is currently losing huge per cent of the big risks in the economy to foreign underwriters.
Therefore, there was not only a huge capital flight from the economy but lower risk retention capacity and the inability of operators to ensure the big risks.
The situation has made the nation’s insurance industry the weakest link in the financial services sector, contrary to what happens in other climes where the insurance sector constitutes the strong asset base for major projects, especially infrastructure.
The bill which increases the financial capacity of the underwriting companies, pegged non-life capital at N15 billion, life at N10 billion, and reinsurance at N35 billion.
The Bill was sponsored by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions Adetokunbo Abiru, after considering the committee’s report clause by clause at the Committee of the Whole, chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin.
Speaking on the development, the Commissioner for Insurance, Olusegun Omosehin, described the passage of the bill as a game changer for Nigeria’s insurance industry, saying that the insurance law will have a high positive impact on the contribution of the insurance sector to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and the economy as a whole.
“By consolidating existing insurance laws, the new legislation marks a new era in the ongoing efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s insurance industry. The bill provides a comprehensive framework for regulating all types of insurance businesses and ensuring a more robust and effective industry.
Also speaking to the development, the chairman, the Insurance Industry Consultative Council (IICC), Yetunde Ilori is optimistic that the bill will scale through the remaining processes with ease and become law in the early part of next year.
Ilori, who is also the president of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), added that the operators, brokers, and all other arms of the sector are working with the industry regulator, that is, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to ensure smooth passage of the Consolidated Insurance Bill into Law as soon as possible.
According to her, players in the industry are giving the bill the needed push and support to ensure it becomes a reality because we believe it will revolutionise the industry and deepen insurance penetration in the country.
Speaking on the passage of the insurance bill, a former Managing Director of FSL Insurance Broker Limited, Alfred Daudu, said it is a welcome development in the sector.
Daudu, expressed optimism that the legislation will unlock the growth, prosperity, and potential of the insurance sector, noting that passage of the Bill has marked a significant milestone in the country’s efforts to revamp the insurance industry after nearly two decades.
