Rebasing placed enormous responsibility on insurance industry – Daniel

 

Daniel

Chuks Udo Okonta

 

The Commissioner for Insurance Fola Daniel, has said the recent rebasing of the economy, which revealed a drop from 0.7 to 0.6 per cent in insurance contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), has placed enormous responsibility on the industry.

Daniel who spoke at a forum in Uyo, said the drop and weakness in contribution call for more dynamic strategies to enable the sector make meaningful impact in the economy

“The recent rebasing of the economy which now makes the Nigerian economy the largest in Africa and 26 largest in the world has placed enormous responsibility on the industry.

“With the old based economy, the sector barely contributed 0.7 per cent to GDP. With the rebasing, the contribution of the sector to GDP has been further weakened. This therefore calls for more dynamic strategies to enable the sector make meaningful contribution to the GDP,” he said.

Counting on feats recorded in the industry lately, Daniel said though the N1 trillion target set to be achieved in 2012 is yet to be attained, considerable progress has been made given available statistics.

He noted that there has been massive awareness about the compulsory insurances within and outside the industry, stressing that this is evident in the number of policies written by companies under this class of insurance between 2009 and 2012 which rose sharply from 72,180 to 152,181 a whopping increase of 111 per cent.

“Considerable progress was equally recorded in the volume of premium written under this class of insurance during the period. It rose sharply from N14.93 billion in 2009 to N28.68 billion in 2012, an increase of 92 per cent.

Equally encouraging is the fact that the underwriting companies appear to have risen to their responsibility of claims settlement under the compulsory insurances’ scheme. This is evident from the impressive rise in the volume of claims paid during the period,” he added.

He noted that the Commission would consolidate on the gains made so far and ensure proper implementation of these compulsory insurance products to be able to enhance the industry contribution to GDP.