Insurance to be taught in second cycle, tertiary institutions
The West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA) is to submit proposals to member countries to consider introducing courses in insurance at the senior high school and tertiary levels.
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The immediate past President of WAICA and President of the Ghana Insurers Association, Mr Ivan Avereyireh, who made the submission, intimated that not only would such a move enhance public education and knowledge about the benefits of insurance, but more importantly, it would provide the much needed vehicle for increased insurance penetration in member countries; thus, contributing to real economic growth.
Mr Avereyireh was addressing the association’s 38th Annual General Meeting and Educational Conference in Lagos, Nigeria.
Also, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Life Insurance Co. Ltd, Mr Avereyireh said, “let us not rest on our oars until we bring insurance to our people in all the nooks and crannies of our region.”
“The poor needs to be inculcated into buying insurance products and services, and micro insurance and Takaful insurance will assist a lot in achieving this,” he stated.
He also admonished players in the insurance industry in the sub-region to desist from unethical practices such as inappropriate policy underwriting, which often led to premium under-cutting.
In this regard, he encouraged stakeholders of the insurance industry in the sub-region to come together to drive insurance penetration in the sub-region.
New President
New leaders were elected and sworn into office at the conference. Mr Rotimi Fashola, CEO of IGI Nigeria, was elected to succeed Mr Avereyireh as WAICA President.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Fashola promised to reach out to dormant and inactive members by offering them structured options to settle their indebtedness to the association, instead of falling out altogether.
He also promised to constantly engage all stakeholders to patronise the sub-regional agenda of providing quality insurance services to all the people and businesses in the sub-region.
Meanwhile, Mr Fashola intimated that the industry would not witness the expected growth if operators mainly focused on competition, at the expense of collaboration. He, therefore, called on operators to ensure greater information and resource collaboration, both at the national and sub-regional levels.
That way, pragmatic measures could be jointly adopted to drive insurance growth and penetration.
Commissioner for Finance
The Commissioner for Finance of Nigeria, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, attributed the low insurance penetration in the sub-region and the continent to multiplicity of factors, including the lack of appreciation of the essence of insurance.
She said in its true sense, insurance provided individuals and businesses financial security in their period of loss or incapacitation.
She bemoaned the practice where players often violated regulatory requirements and therefore asked for greater co-operation in the insurance landscape in order to drive the much needed public participation and patronage of insurance.
Stakeholder views
Mrs Adeosun also urged insurance regulators in member countries to collaborate with other financial sector industry regulators across the sub-region, by sharing relevant information in order to help curb the growing phenomenon of unethical financial and business practices such as money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities among others.
The special guest at the conference was insurance veteran, Professor Joe Irukwu, who instructively, was very instrumental in founding WAICA. He shared that the insurance industry across the sub-region, had seen exponential growth in the last three decades owing to continuous public education by insurers.
Professor Irukwu called on practitioners to imbibe the habit of professionalism, which he believed could provide the catalyst for not only increasing insurance penetration in the sub-region, but positively impacting on business solvency and sustainability.
For his part, Nigeria’s Commissioner for Insurance, Alhaji Mohammed Kari, noted that insurance remained a key component of economic growth and development, indicating that the industry was on the right growth trajectory.
About WAICA
WAICA is the trade body of all insurance companies in English speaking West Africa.
The association’s leadership structure is based on a rotational system among member countries. With Ghana just ending its tenure, Nigeria now hosts the Presidency. — GB
