Bello
Retail Insurance Family Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) has expressed its determination to tackle hydra challenges of fake insurance policies and non payment of claims that are closing the grow and practice of underwriting business in the country.
The Chairman of RIFAN, Chief Akin Bello, stated this at a stakeholders meeting organised by the association in Abuja, stressing that the overall operations of the body is to protect the insured public and maintain an orderliness in the insurance market.
“At a time when the nation’s insuring public are staring in disbelief at myriads problems from fake polices being issued to them by fake agents that make it difficult for them to get their claims, a robust platform such as RIFAN is indeed what the insured need now from the insurance industry to bring the desired confidence,” he said.
Bello posited that the association has a commitment to improving conduct, integrity and trustworthiness of the insurance market, adding that in his tenure as the National Chairman, it has become obvious to him that there are actions that must be simultaneously unshackle to empower enforcement and general operations of insurance practice.
He noted that the association would continue to collaborate with insurers to ensure better use of technology in keeping pace with the tremendous growth in the sector, adding that technology has been the overall enhancer of business operations across the globe.
He maintained that RIFAN is a technology centric platform and that it will make its solutions available to both the insurer and the insured. He added that insurers need to improve their rules for electronic record keeping and reporting so as to ensure a real-time seamless information retrieval process.
Director-General of the association Chief Ali Theophilus (5th right) with other stakeholders at the event.
Director-General of the association Chief Ali Theophilus, assured insurers and insuring publics that in 2020 the issue of fake insurance agent and certificate will be a thing of the past through help of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), stressing that the body is determined to create wealth for the insurance industry through public enlighten and use of technology.
One of the most vital aspects of RIFAN, he said, is to instil confidence in the insured, stressing that it is the obligation of the body to protect interests of the insured, which are usually infringed on by fake agents, who gang-up to defraud innocent policy buyers.
He maintained that it is his duty as the Director-General of the association to reduce fake insurance policies to the barest minimum in Nigeria; advocates the need for all vehicular information database are harmonized into a single system and attempts to create the best enabling environment for insurance agents to play their game and ensure agents that fail to concur will be penalized through the various agency regulators.
He implored members of the public to join the body and leverage it to procure their insurances, adding that the body was established to educate the insuring public, protect their rights and ensure they get real value for the premium they pay whenever the risk they insured against happen.
