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Chuks Udo Okonta
The President Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) Edwin Igbiti, in a new year message, has implored insurance practitioners to convert economic challenges to opportunities as risk bears in 2023.
Igbiti noted that indeed 2022 was an interesting and remarkable year and that he is most grateful for contributions and collaborations from the practitioners toward the success of the numerous programmes of the Institute.
He stated that year 2022 availed the institute in particular and the Nigerian Insurance Industry in Nigeria in general, a plethora of opportunities to evolve and revamp its business operations to measure up with the present global trends witnessed in the industry.
“It is no gainsaying to state that the insurance industry is one of the most resilient and fast growing sectors in Nigeria.
“Despite the numerous economic recessions, the effects of the COVID-19 and the #ENDSARS protests which resulted into millions of claims, the sector
experienced laudable progress,” he submitted.
The CIIN boss maintained that the Nigerian insurance sector’s growth more than tripled in the third quarter of 2022 on the back of dollar premium income and growth in annuity business.
“To corroborate this, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), revealed that the insurance sector rose to 19.09 per cent at the end of third quarter 2022, as against 5.10 per cent in the same period in 2021 and 6.09 per cent in second quarter 2022.
“I strongly believe that 2023 holds an avalanche of opportunities and possibilities for the Institute and the industry in general. This is because 2022, the Institute and industry bubbled with activities and events; all focusing on building a new insurance industry and how to advance and leverage technologies that would enable the sector flourish in the face of the new business trends and challenges.
“We have truly sown the seeds and we will start reaping it this year,” he said.
He noted that projections for 2023 for the industry by global economic experts, revealed that the insurance industry is forecasted to return to premium growth of 2.1 per cent annually on average in real terms following total global premiums falling by an estimated 0.2 per cent in real terms in 2022 due to inflation.
“According to Swiss Reinsurance Institute Sigma Report, this growth is supported by a
combination of easing inflation, market hardening in property and casualty lines, as well as stronger life insurance demand. This report carries with it opportunities for us to leverage and boost our industry and the economy.
“On the other hand, I know there will be challenges ranging from economic hurdles such as the potential for sustained inflation; to sustainability concerns including climate risk, diversity, and financial inclusion; to rapidly evolving consumer products and purchase preferences.
“Fortunately, insurance is a business of risk management so, the challenges pointed above should be viewed as opportunities for us. On this note, I would like to affirm with confidence that 2023 will be a good year for all and that it will be a year filled with major achievements, victories and feats for the industry,” he posited.
Among other things, Igbiti stated that this year, the institute’s major focus aside insurance advocacy will be on infrastructural development of the Victoria Island property, stressing that as the primer body for insurance professionals in Nigeria, the Institute deserves a structure that is befitting of its status as the home of all insurance professionals.
He therefore appealed to all members and concerned stakeholders to support the Institute in its bid to erect an edifice that will serve as a home for insurance professionals nationwide.
The Institute, he said belongs to all including the practitioners who wear the toga of insurance professionals. “It is my hope that as stakeholders, we will continue to lift the Institute higher by actively participating to make the Institute’s programmes and activities in 2023 more fruitful than the previous year,” he dropped.
He said the Institute must continue to be at the frontiers of technological
innovations and best industry practices to ensure members’ satisfaction that the theme of his tenure ‘Building a Sustainable Legacy’was birthed.This will guarantee that despite current global uncertainties, the institute will continue to meet the needs and aspirations of its members, he submitted.
He thanked the practitioners for their support in making the past year successful, whilst looking forward in anticipation to
what they will accomplish together this year and wished them a peaceful and successful 2023.
