Matthew Otoijagha
Governments at all levels, corporate entities and individuals need to embrace insurance for economic development, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) Director, Rasaaq Salami, has said.
He spoke during the launch of AXA Mansard Insurance Television Commercial (TVC) for Life Insurance products at the weekend in Lagos.
The event titled: Role of insurance in economic development was attended by some experts. Stressing the important role of insurance in economic development, he cited recent incidents of collapsed buildings across the country.
He said it was unfortunate that the three-storey building in Ita-Faji area of Lagos Island, that killed 20 people, including pupils of a school and other people was not insured. He pointed out that if the building was insured, insurance would have compensated all victims of the disaster.
He added that this explains the important role of insurance in an economy. He, however, called on operators to do more in awareness creation that will spur people to embrace insurance, noting that this is the direction that the commission as the regulator is going.
Lauding AXA Mansard, Salami said the commission is proud of the company’s TVC on life insurance policies because it is about customers getting benefits while still alive. He said: “We need to start doing more in our plans to create awareness and that is the direction that the commission is going. We urge everybody to endeavor to take up an insurance policy.
“The commission is impressed with the commercial because we believe this is the direction that we should be moving in the industry. We have always had adverts or creative that talk about disasters and deaths. This has scared the people away from taking insurance. We are proud of this advert that gives benefits while the insured is alive.”
AXA Mansard Chief Executive Officer Mr. Kunle Ahmed said the company’s life insurance products gave cash-back, healthcare ‘checks and loyalty bonus on its life products. He said they believed that life products should not just be about benefits after the death of an insured but benefits to an insured while alive.
Ahmed stated that the TVC was designed in their quest to improve the well-being of Nigerians, improve the uptake of life insurance policies and deepen insurance penetration. “The TVC promotes the importance and benefits of life insurance, focusing on living benefits. We believe that the TVC will bring about a paradigm shift in people’s understanding of life insurance being the first of its kind in the insurance industry.
‘‘The TVC is also a testament to our desire to seek solutions that will increase insurance uptake in the country. We did a lot of research and we believe that life insurance penetration is still very low in Nigeria.
‘’Many people would buy the general policies like motor, home insurance, etc. and would rather not buy life insurance. We think that this may have to do with the way the life products are presented to the public. This is why we came up with the TVC we have today and we believe through this effort, the perception that people have about life products will change for the better.
“AXA Mansard was incorporated in June 1989. Within the 30 years of our existence, the name of the company has changed, but we have remained the best in service standard. The company is a member of AXA Group, a world leader in insurance and asset management with 166,000 employees, 107 million clients across 64 countries in the world.”
Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA) Director-General Mrs. Yetunde Ilori affirmed that there is low awareness for insurance, especially life policies. “People only relate the policies to death, but I think the AXA Mansard TVC, people will feel more excited to purchase insurance. On the part of NIA, we will use the media in sensitizing the public on the benefits of insurance,” she added.