For the insurance industry to contribute its quota to the economy, there is a need for insurers to make prompt claim payment a habit.
Nigerians who spoke to Orimix Times at the weekend, said the insurance industry is the least patronised among financial service providers.
The low penetration in the country is a serious cause for concern to industry stakeholders over the years.
Consumers, however, charged underwriting firms to honour their claims obligation as the inability to do so has made insurance penetration below one per cent, despite the country’s huge population.
To them, the best form of publicity is in paying claims as and when due, a development that will trigger more policy adoption and increase penetration.
There are also complaints about the terms and conditions that are not adequately spelt out at the point of buying a policy, which only becomes issues at the point of claim processing.
Mrs. Blessing Akintoye, who also spoke to Orimix Times, urged insurance companies in the country to consistently pay claims if they wanted people to buy their policies, adding that it is the best form of awareness they can do.
Insurance operators, according to her, must take their time to explain the terms and conditions of each policy to policyholders at the point of buying the cover to avoid conflicts.
The Managing Director, Tangerine General Insurance Limited, Mayowa Adeduro, had charged the citizenry to embrace insurance, as it is key to surviving unforeseeable risks.
“When there is a disaster, the government can only pay you a token. But with insurance, you will get near or exactly what you have lost. Everybody needs it because of the daily risk we are exposed to.
“One of the cheapest things you can buy is insurance. For instance, you can insure a N10 million house with a N25,000 premium. Most policyholders do not know that the fire insurance policy they have covers flood or wind. All these need to be explained to policyholders by marketers to ensure that customers maximise their cover,” he said.
