From left: Tope Adaramola, Assistant Executive Secretary, Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers; Tunde Oguntade Vice President/representative of President, and Fatai Adegbenro, Executive Secretary/CEO during the annual general meeting of the NationalAssociation of Insurance and Pension Correspondents in Lagos.
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Chuks Udo Okonta
The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) said plans are in top gear for its President, Dr. (Mrs) Bola Onigbogi to visit President Muhammadu Buhari as part of the Council’s sensitization Programme to deepen insurance in the country.
The Executive Secretary of the Council, Fatai Adegbenro, made the disclosure while speaking to members of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) shortly after their 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos.
He said the planned visit to the Presidency is aimed at sensitizing the government on the need to engage the services of the registered insurance Brokers, to protect the assets and liabilities of the government.
According to Adegbenro, “We will continue to engage the government agencies from time to time. But for the COVID-19, our President would have paid a visit to the Presidency with the view to sensitizing the government on the need to engage the services of the registered insurance Brokers, to protect the assets and liabilities of the government. It’s not only the assets you protect, you protect liabilities as well because there are a lot of loans being taken to execute government projects. When these projects fail, whether you like it or not you must pay back the loan, so you have to protect all these things.
“We are engaging the people to embrace the benefit of insurance. Insurance is key. Insurance in other climes, nobody wait for the government. It’s very easy because people larch on ignorance to say government has not done this or that. Government cannot do everything even in the United States of America (USA). If they suffer loss, they don’t go to government, the people call on their insurance companies for compensation. We are doing everything to ensure we minimize reliances on government here,” he said.
On technology, he the the Council is doing everything within its powers to ensure that members are full upgraded to global trends in business operations in order to stay afloat in the present of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic even as he hinted that’s very soon members renewals will be done online.
His words “On the area of technology, if you say some members are not technologically savvy, yes, but in the real sense of it since the lockdown we have been meeting with our members; some of you have had the opportunity to come here and meet us. Our membership is spread all over the country and we have been organizing trainings for our members. Nobody can claim to know everything, even the public you are reaching out to, your client might not be IT savvy hence you see them going there. When after sending mails to clients and there is no response you have to move out to reach out to them and our members have been dealing with them online.”
He said going forward, all the renewals of our members should be done online because this is the new normal as the Vice President has said. Everybody is now falling online and the Council has organised two trainings on IT on “how to use IT to drive your business” because if you are not there, there’s no way you can remain relevant because NCRIB needs the members to remain afloat. Every association’s strength is determined by the number of membership.
Collaborating this earlier in his speech. The NCRIB’s Vice President, Tunde Oguntade said what NCRIB has done is to ensure that all its members are ICT savvy.
“What we have done in the NCRIB is that you cannot be a member without being information and communication technology (ICT) savvy. NCRIB has moved from manual to digital. Very soon renewal this year will be by the portal. Our members are well trained. You cannot say somebody is a Broker without being technology savvy. NCRIB is in tune with what the government is doing and we are in tune with what is happening in the outside world. You should expect more from the NCRIB, “ he said.
