Matthew Otoijagha
The Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari, has said that the insurance sector is ready to drive financial inclusion through the Nigerian Insurance Industry Development Plan.
He said, “We are prepared to launch the Nigerian Insurance Industry Development Plan which has financial inclusion as one of its major components. Work on the NIIDP has already been concluded with input from the KPMG, a consulting firm, which will also independently monitor its implementation to ensure each segment of the market keep to date with their assigned responsibilities.”
Kari also said the plan had been presented to the Insurers Committee, a body comprising the management of NAICOM, chief executive officers of insurance companies and heads of insurance trade associations and the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, to ensure every player in the industry was on the same page.
The commissioner explained that financial inclusion was premised on the principles of equity, meaning social cohesion and bridging the income equality gap, as well as ensuring inclusive economic growth and development.
According to him, it is a global objective which has different dimensions since countries and institutions develop models that best suit their peculiar environment. “But irrespective of the jurisdiction, the general consensus seems to be that financial exclusion is one of the main causes of poverty in the world,” he said.
How the insurance sector in Nigeria could effectively and efficiently navigate this turn to increase the number of policyholders, while reducing the figure of the financially excluded was part of the functions of the NIIDP, Kari noted.
In realization of the National Financial Inclusion target for the insurance sector and the need to deepened insurance penetration, he said NAICOM focused on two objectives which are ;Insurance awareness campaign for the financially excluded and promoting the development of products and business models that meet the needs of the these excluded groups.
To this extent, he added, the commission had launched four specific product lines as a bottom-up approach for the excluded and low income members of the society which are micro-insurance, banc-assurance, takaful insurance and Index-based Agricultural Insurance.
He said, “NAICOM then developed and launched the Micro Insurance and Takaful operational guidelines, consequences of these, insurance companies were permitted to offer the relevant products through ‘the window’ models of operation.
“Upon gathering some experience, the commission reviewed the guidelines and upscaled the operations to specialist and dedicated licensing to entice specialist operators from within and without the insurance industry.’’