Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc has elevated 22 members of staff following the outcome of the company’s 2014 performance appraisal exercise.
A statement from the company stated that the newly promoted members of staff cuts across the length and breadth of the organizationnationwide.
It noted that to on the list of the elevated staff is the Eastern Area Manager, Angela Onochie, who now becomes an Assistant General Manager from her hitherto Senior Manager Position. Ebinyu Faloughi, who was before now a Deputy Manager becomes a full Manager.
Two members of staff were promoted to the position of Deputy Manager. A total number of ten staff got elevated to the position of Officer 1 and officer 2 respectively while another two moved to the status of officer 3. Making the list also are some of the company’s chauffeurs who moved up the ladder at different administrative grade levels within their promotion cadre.
Angela Onochie joined the company at inception as a Graduate Trainee having studied Zoology from the University of Calabar. She has virtually traversed all the major Divisions in the organization, namely, Technical, Human Resources,Administration and Marketing. She currently oversees the operations of the Eastern Area Offices for the underwriting firm.
The Acting Head of Human Resources of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Adeola Onichabor explained that, asides those that got promoted, the company also rewarded other members of staff with varying salary increment notches for their outstanding performances during the period under review.
She equally reiterated Management’s commitment to rewarding every member of staff who at one point or the other has been able to distinguish themselves in the course of carrying out their duties.
She said Management is particularly interested and ready to support any member of staff that is willing to professionally develop himself or herself for the advancement and growth of the organisation and the individual involved.
According to her, “Management has identified that Professionalism is the springboard for the advancement and development of Insurance business in Nigeria; hence, the workforce in Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc is being encouraged to embrace continuing education both professionally and academic wise.
Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc recruits and retains the services of young, educated and talented professionals, with a total of 33 Chartered Insurers (ACIIN), 1 ACIIN Fellow, 2 ACCA Fellows, 13 Chartered Accountants (ACA), 8 ACIPM with 42 MBA holders and other professionals from varied disciplines, the company is ranked amongst the topmost employers of highly skilled manpower in the insurance industry in Nigeria till date.
Members of staff, Glanvill Enthoven & Co. (Nig) Limited
at the event.
MD’S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
I bring you special greetings from the entire Board of Directors, Management & Staff of Glanvills Group.
I must say that I am humbled, honoured, delighted and at the same time excited to be in your midst to receive the award of Best Insurance Broking of the year 2014 on behalf of Glanvills.
Ladies & gentlemen, my acceptance and receipt of this award for Glanvills would not be complete without letting you walk with me along memory lane, to see where we are coming from and to pay tribute to the many gallant men & women who have made this milestone a reality.
Highlight major achievement in the midst of challenges.
Are there challenges – yes, there are big challenges which could be overwhelming if we let them. But we will not let them. We are determined to face them and win through.
We wish to thank Inspenonline counting us worthy to receive this great award amongst the numerous 600 brokers in the market.
Ladies and gentlemen if this award stands for anything, it stands for the united spirit in all of us to achieve the impossible and re-launch Glanvills on the path of fame and Glory.
As I accept this award on behalf of you all I would like to remind everybody that what we are doing today is renewing the footprints of Glanvills on the sands of time.
Thank you so much & God Bless.
Chief Executive Officer Inspen Media, Chuks Udo Okonta presenting the
award to the Managing Director Glanvill Enthoven & Co. (Nig) Limited,
Francis Akinola at the event.
Insurance companies in four years, settled claims amounting to N326.25 billion Inspenonline, can report.
The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) stated this in its 2014/2015 annual report and accounts presented today at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos. It noted that the claims were paid between 2011 to 2014.
A breakdown of the claims shows that N70.71 billion was paid in 2011; N72.20 billion in 2012; N92.95 billion in 2013 and N90.39 in 2014.
The Chairman NIA, Godwin Wiggle at the event, said the estimated value of business underwritten by the industry last year, was N319 billion, stressing that the feat was achieved through initiatives such as, No Premium No Cover; implementation of the international financial reporting standard; strict adherence to anti-money laundering guidelines; better corporate governance structures and tighter supervisory supervision oversight.
He lauded the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for its development oriented regulations, which he said contributed significantly to the improvement in the quantum of premium recorded.
Wiggle also identified some challenges that clogged the wheel of progress in the industry.
"It should be noted that this did not come easy as the Nigerian insurance landscape was plagued by several challenges. As we know, the insurance sector cannot be separated from the vagaries and vicissitudes of the national economy.
"Therefore, the challenges of poor power supply; weak infrastructure; and the continuing insurgency in the North East contributed to slow down the pace of growth of the industry."
He posited that in spite the challenges, the introduction of innovative products; strategic business models and improved service delivery helped to up the ante for the industry.
Improving health in Africa is a team effort, involving many people from different backgrounds. The considerable gains made in recent years would not have been possible without the contribution of the people themselves, national and global political will, and the support of development partners. All too often, however, the role played by Africans themselves has been overlooked or downplayed in international policy making as well as in publications. It is time to redress the balance and celebrate their achievements.
Health leaders in sub Saharan African countries face some of the most demanding challenges anywhere in the world. Disease, poverty, the legacy of colonialism and, all too often, conflict, corruption, and political instability combined, make improving health extraordinarily difficult. Looking back we can see many great African health leaders who have played their part as the following few examples show.
In 1976 a young Kenyan doctor, Miriam Were – to the consternation of her professors in Nairobi – started her PhD on patient participation in rural Kenya. She went on to become one of the early exponents of community health workers in Africa and developed an approach through which local people worked with their neighbours to promote healthy behaviour and tackle diseases. As she puts it: ‘Through this approach, health-promoting and disease-preventing norms develop in the community’ and ‘If it doesn’t happen in the community, it doesn’t happen in the nation’. The impact of those early developments is enormous and can be seen throughout Africa.
“when you focus on the poorest first, you take the rest with you, When you focus on where the greatest gaps are, you make the biggest gains.”
In the same year Dr Pascoal Mocumbi became Health Minister in war-torn Mozambique and was charged with delivering health care at a time when most doctors had left the country. He had trained as both a nurse and a doctor, and recognised that some nurses could undertake surgical procedures, provided that they had the right training and supervision. He set up a programme to train the Tecnicos de cirurgia to perform obstetric surgery to cover the rural areas. Peer reviewed research over 20 years shows that the Tecnicos have the same success rate as doctors and at less than half the cost. The programme continues to save lives in rural Mozambique today.
Twenty years later, Dr Uche Amazigo became the Head of the African Campaign for Onchocerciasis (river blindness) Control and was faced with the daunting task of how to deliver prophylactic drugs to millions of Africans in remote villages. With colleagues, she set up a volunteer network of thousands of local people as community distributors who ensured that everyone in their home villages received the right dosage every year to control the diseases. By 2011 more than 600 million treatments had been given, and an estimated 7 million years of blindness prevented. Plans are being made to eliminate – not just control – the disease (L. E. Coffeng et al). This is one of the greatest mobilisations of a population as part of a public health campaign anywhere in the world.
These stories of leadership need, however, to be seen alongside the relationship of dependency that has grown over the years between Sub Saharan Africa and its development partners. As Francis Omaswa has written: ‘Africans went to the Bretton Woods institutions and other institutions and countries begging for advice and for money and we got both but in exchange for certain core values’.
Development partners have played an enormous role in bringing new resources and skills to the continent and provided benefits to millions of people. However, the very best of intentions by passionate donors has often created duplication of programmes, whilst lack of coordination has led to inefficiencies. Local expertise has frequently been ignored with the result that programmes are ineffective and parallel systems of health care have been created, thereby weakening rather than strengthening local health systems. Worse still, there has sometimes been fierce competition between foreign organisations as they manoeuvre commercial-like businesses to outflank their competitors for funding and prestige. This competition has sometimes been overlaid and complicated by different political and moral ideologies and agendas being fought out by foreigners in African countries.
International agreements from the Rome and Paris Declarations onwards have set out frameworks for effective development. There have undoubtedly been improvements – but not everywhere. The reality of ‘country ownership’ with partner support has yet to be realised in most of Africa. The idea of ‘mutual accountability’ between partners and countries is not yet working in practice. Now it is time to for Africans to reclaim leadership in their own countries and to re-balance this relationship.
Nairobi Skyline by afromusing. CC-BY-2.0 via Flickr.
Rwanda has been re-building itself over the 20 years since the genocide and now has a social insurance health system that reaches 98% of the population and effective local health services in almost all parts of the country. It has been hailed as an example of country leadership and partner support with strong and mature relationships being developed between the country and its principal partners. This has allowed the development of a distinctively Rwandan approach to health improvement suited to its own social, economic, and physical environment.
The Rwandan system has been built on the principles of equity and human rights, a holistic approach to health and its determinants – neither vertical nor horizontal in its application – the use of information, the spread of knowledge, and the engagement of the whole population. Private enterprise and incentives are deployed in the service of the public good and citizens are expected to take a measure of responsibility for themselves. At its heart is the idea that ‘when you focus on the poorest first, you take the rest with you. When you focus on where the greatest gaps are, you make the biggest gains‘ (P.E. Farmer).Whilst Rwanda still faces many challenges, it offers an example of how country leadership, supported by partners, can create a successful national system, and incidentally, pioneer innovations of relevance to other African countries and beyond. Everyone can learn from each other (Crisp).
Looking forward, and writing as parliamentarians in our respective countries, we recognise that it will take political will and sustained leadership to change attitudes and develop a new relationship between Africa and the rest of the world. We envisage the ultimate goal should be to establish something more like the post-war Marshall Plan through which America and the world banking system invested in Europe as its people built new institutions and economies rather than simply continuing the gift of charity from generous people to their poor neighbour. The world needs a strong Africa today just as it needed a strong Europe 70 years ago.
In the meantime, and while we press for this change, we believe it is important to recognise and celebrate African health leaders and the millions of people – paid and unpaid, professional and untrained – from African and partner countries who strive daily to improve health across the continent.
The company founded by NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson has bought a controlling stake in EquiTrust Life Insurance Co., creating the nation’s largest black-owned insurance company.
Magic Johnson Enterprises said it bought more than a 60 percent interest in Chicago-based EquiTrust from Guggenheim Partners LLC, but didn’t disclose a purchase price.
New York-based Guggenheim, which will no longer have a stake in EquiTrust, bought the insurer in 2011 for $440 million from FBL Financial Group Inc., according to Bloomberg.
Guggenheim Partners will continue to provide investment management services for EquiTrust.
EquiTrust manages $14.5 billion in fixed-rate and indexed annuities and life insurance through a national network of more than 23,800 independent agents.
Magic Johnson Enterprises, which focuses its investments on underserved urban communities, said the acquisition of EquiTrust diversifies its portfolio holdings to include a nationwide provider of retail financial services.
“The EquiTrust acquisition is significant in that there is limited ownership by minorities among financial institutions today,” the company said, adding that the deal is the largest purchase of a financial services company by an individual African American entrepreneur or group of African American entrepreneurs.
“EquiTrust provides MJE a tremendous platform to advocate for financial literacy and assist in creating job opportunities at every level. We will educate and emphasize the importance of life insurance for estate planning and annuities for retirement planning purposes,” said Johnson, who also serves as MJE’s CEO and chairman. “It’s not only groundbreaking, but continues my mission to invest in businesses where we can make a positive impact in the community.”
GENEVA: The global insurance industry gained momentum last year, as economies improved and the long suffering life insurance sector returned to growth in Europe and Japan, a study showed on Wednesday.
Insurance premiums rose 3.7 per cent to $4.8 trillion (4.2tr euros), a sharp rise over the 1.4-per cent growth recorded in 2013, according to the Sigma study, conducted for the Swiss Re insurance group.
Developed countries saw growth of 2.9pc while insurance premiums shot up 7.4pc in emerging countries.
“There was a return to positive growth in the life sector, with premiums up 4.3pc to $2.7tr after a 1.8-per cent decline in 2013,” the Swiss insurer said.
“Very strong growth in Oceania and solid results in Western Europe and Japan more than offset yet another year of contraction in North America, with falling sales of term and universal life products in the United States,” it said.
In the non-life sector, premiums rose 2.9pc to $2.1tr globally.
Swiss Re said since the financial crisis of 2008, life premiums in the advanced markets had stagnated while in emerging markets, average annual premium growth was slower than in the pre-crisis years.
The insurer said it expected to see accelerated growth in 2015, with low oil prices likely to boost the global economy and lead to higher consumer spending and investment.
The Commissioner for Insurance Fola Daniel, has attributed the delay in having a new Insurance Act to regulate the industry to frequent changes of Ministers of Finance.
Daniel in an interview with a daily newspaper, said since he assumed office as commissioner, there has been musical changes in the Federal Ministry of Finance, stressing that he has worked with a handful of ministers within this period and because the continuity has not been there not much progress has been made with the bill.
"Since I came into office there has been musical changes in the Federal Ministry of Finance. I have so far worked with a handful of ministers within this period and because the continuity has not been there not much progress has been made with the bill.
"Unfortunately that bill has not made it to the National Assembly but we are going to urge the incoming government to give priority to the passage of that bill. I am very, very enthusiastic about it and I am very confident that the new government will look at it. I think it will be in the front burner of the new administration. So we are going to have a new Insurance Act," he said.
He dismissed the notion that the 2003 Insurance Act is obsolete, stressing that the new bill was initiated to make the industry's Act more developmental; progressive and user-friendly.
"I don’t think it is appropriate to say that the 2003 Insurance Act is obsolete, no. What we are trying to do with the new bill is to make it more developmental, more progressive, and more user-friendly.
"Under this 2003 Insurance Act the regulator is sweating. If I want to punish you, I have to write you to tell me why I should not punish you, I give fourteen days, then wisely you delay and probably you send the reply on that fourteenth day which is a Friday, I have lost three weeks.
"And if I want to intervene in a company, in most cases we need not write to inform them. It is not flexible legislation like the banking legislation. The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) legislation is very flexible and it enables the regulator to take proactive action so that you do not take action when the die is cast," he added.
Daniel noted that proposed bill when passed will give the regulator more flexibility in regulating the industry.
