By Babatunde
Less than 1% of Nigerians have life insurance
The Director-General of the National Insurance Commission, Mr. Sunday Thomas, has decried the general apathy for insurance by the Nigerian government and the citizens.
Thomas noted that less than one percent of Nigerians voluntarily subscribe to life insurance.
According to him, Nigeria is among the least countries in terms of insurance contribution to the Gross Domestic Product at 0.72 percent.
“The country’s diagnostic study says less than one percent of the adult population in Nigeria has access to a voluntary insurance policy,” he said.
The Nigerian insurance sector was grossly untapped because it had not yet appealed to the informal sector, which constituted over 80 percent of the population.
Thomas noted that it was common knowledge that insurance culture was very low among people in the informal sector and that it would take deliberate efforts to win the confidence of this sector.
“For the NIA, the obvious way forward is through closer interaction with this sector, intensive capacity building and greater expertise in micro insurance, providing unique micro insurance services, development of people-friendly products, and improved innovative distributive system,” he said.
Thomas explained that micro insurance was targeted at the informal sector and the low-income earners and that it was a veritable tool for mitigating losses from unexpected accidents and disaste.
Naija 247
