In the 2021 financial year, the Nigerian insurance sector wrote business of N560 billion. At the 51st annual general meeting of the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), held on Thursday in Lagos, Mr. Ganiyu Musa, the organization’s departing chairman, revealed this.
The meeting saw the introduction of the new executives, and Mr. Olusegun Omosehin, managing director/chief executive officer of Old Mutual Nigeria Life Insurance Company Limited, was elected as the organization’s new chairman.
He said, “Notwithstanding these challenges, the insurance industry continues to perform its statutory role of financial intermediation and business restoration.
“The volume of business written by member companies grew from N508bn in 2020 to about N560bn in 2021, representing an increase of 10 per cent.”
In order to increase insurance penetration, the organization and the National Insurance Commission, according to Musa, have launched a number of programs.
The public’s adoption of insurance was anticipated to rise as a result of programs including financial inclusion, microinsurance, the association’s NIIP project, and other strategic market development activities, he added.
According to Musa, the National Insurance Commission started the insurance industry recapitalization operation in May 2019, but it has not been completed as a result of legal actions taken by some interested parties.
He said the association was not a party to the lawsuit, and it expected that the cases would be expeditiously dispensed with.
“We are also concerned about the uncertainty the delays have created, especially among our critical stakeholders, and we appeal to the litigants to sheathe their swords so that whatever the issues in contention are can be resolved through constructive engagement for a swift end to the matter in the interest of the insuring public and all stakeholders,” he said.
He noted that the definition of capital for the recapitalisation exercise was one of the major issues faced by member companies.
The definition of capital as encapsulated in the Insurance Act 2003 and the commission’s interpretation of same had fallen far behind best practice in insurance and financial sector regulation and would be injurious to the member companies, he said.
He said, “The association subsequently engaged the commission on the need to find an acceptable definition of capital in line with what obtains in other jurisdictions. Presentations were subsequently made by NIA, NAICOM, and KPMG at the various sessions and the agreed position was presented to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning for inclusion in the Finance Act.
“We are delighted to report that with the President’s assent to the Finance Act 2021. We now have a more acceptable definition of capital.
