Brokers demand proper recognition in vision 20: 2020

 

From left: Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) Mrs Laide Osijo and former President Fiyisayo Soyewo at the event.

Chuks Udo Okonta

Insurance Brokers could be one of the major drivers of vision 20: 2020, if given the required attention, the out-going President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) Mrs Laide Osijo, has said.

She disclosed this today Tuesday, at the on-going 2013 National Insurance Conference of the Council, with the theme, Insurance Brokers and FSS20:2020, holding in Lagos. She added that the council is pained by the insignificant attention given to the contributions members could have made in the national vision.

Osijo noted that there is no way a nation could record enduring economic progress if the insurance sector is neglected. She stressed that insurance plays catalytic roles to the national economy and that role must be recognised and encouraged by the government at all levels.

She said:  “The theme of this conference could not have come at a better time than now, due to the need for brokers to make their impact felt in the national vision and projection of Nigeria to join the 20 most progressive nations of the world by year 2020.

“It is regretful that our country which started out at the same time on the ladder of development, with some countries, still remains at the backside of development, for multifarious reasons that we may not want to explore on this platform.”

She noted that in spite Nigeria’s enormous natural and human resources; her impact is yet to be felt significantly in the comity of nations.

Chairman of SCIB Nigeria and Company Limited, Olola Ogunlana, who was the Chairman of the conference, called on insurance operators to unite to enable them foster progress. He added that unless and until the operators get their issues right, the industry will continue to be in disarray.

He noted that the industry in the past was cohesive and united and that enabled it to impact the nation possibly. He urged operators to encourage healthy competition and friendliness to prop their operations forward.

  “The Nigerian Insurance with its wealth of expertise, experience, actuarial knowledge and business acumen as well as skills in investment of funds, should refurbish and reposition itself to enable it to continue to perform more extensively, creditably and profitably.

“When we have achieved this, it will become patently clear to all those concerned and without prompting or coercion they will concede and entrust to the industry what it is able to do better than others,” he said.

Consultant to the Financial Sector Strategy (FSS) 20:2020, Charles Ohamara, called on insurance operators to explore the opportunities in micro-insurance and others to make the industry’s vision of becoming one of the biggest by year 2020 achievable.

He noted that efforts such as the review of the industry’s Act and the Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI) were made to put the industry on the right position.