OPERATORS URGE PUBLIC TO CHANGE PERCEPTION ON INSURANCE

By ROSEMARY ONUOHA
Insurance operators have decried the low level of trust on the sector from the public saying that such attitude is crippling the growth of the industry in the country.

According to Managing Director of FBN Life Assurance Plc, Mr. Val Ojumah insurance is based on trust but the abuse of trust by insurers resulted in the poor public perception which is adversely affecting the sector.

Ojumah said 'When insurance started in this country, it was based on one keyword, 'trust' but that trust was abused. In the early days when insurance agents with motorcycles were going all over the place marketing insurance and people parted with a lot of money. But did the early companies pay claims as they promised? The answer is no.

'Not a few agents went away with the money they collected and what happened? Many of those insurance companies went down. Consequently, that created a snowball and a big problem for the insurance industry. People w ill not forget in a hurry what happened in the past.'

Other challenges which the insurance sector is battling with, according to Ojumah, is that insurance is still alien to Nigerians coupled with the fact that practitioners have not been innovative enough in creating new products.

He said 'In our traditional way of life, insurance is not a primary security.  As a family member when something goes wrong with any individual family member, we do not look at insurance. As a traditional African family we contribute to help our member.  So insurance is still alien to our way of life.'

On the lack of innovation in regards to new product development, Ojumah said 'On the parts of practitioners today our products have not been particularly innovative.  Our administrations of insurance companies have not been particularly interesting. Claims administration process is still a problem in this market. Yes they will pay eventually but as they said justice delayed is justice denied.'

Ojumah called for a change of attitude on the part of practitioners adding 'If we need to grow this business there are things we need to do as operators and there are things we need to do as regulators.'

He said 'Not many people are prepared to put their money into life insurance companies and wait for one, two, three, four, five years before they get the return. How many people in Nigeria will prefer to do that? That is why FBN Life is institutionalised and not individualised.'