Compulsory Insurances: NCRIB Lauds NAICOM For Partnering Fire Service

By Ngozi Onyeakusi—–The Nigeria Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has commended the National insurance Commission (NAICOM) for partnering the fire service in a bid to enforce Compulsory building insurances.
The NCRIB President, Mr Bola Onigbogi gave the commendation while addressing press conference in Lagos .
Read Her Full Speech
SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE NIGERIAN COUNCIL OF REGISTERED INSURANCE BROKERS, DR. (MRS) BOLA ONIGBOGI, FCIB, AT THE  PRESS CONFERENCE HELD ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2021 AT INSURANCE BROKERS HOUSE, 58 MOLEYE STREET, ALAGOMEJI, YABA LAGOS
•    Distinguished members of the Management Committee
•        Gentlemen of the Press  
•       Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is my great delight to welcome you here today and appreciate you for your continuous and unflinching support since my emergence as the President of the Council. I am not unmindful of your various positive reportage of events that have kept the industry sailing, in spite of undaunted challenges that characterized the entire industry in the past few years. I must confess that your positive presentation and reports have immensely benefited the industry.
Great kudos should also be given to you for all your efforts in creating awareness for the industry, using your various platforms. No one would have done it better than you, being the custodians of information. This further underscores the importance of your profession in propagating news about insurance and its benefits. Without your doggedness and determination to sustain the good image of the industry through your effective reportage, the industry would probably not have been what it is today. On that note, I like to appreciate you for the good job and crave your support never to relent in doing more as far as this task is concerned.
 
It is unfortunate that all my efforts to address the Press collectively since my emergence as the President could not materialize, simply because of the challenge posed majorly by the Covid-19 pandemic, coming in its wake, the social distancing protocols. I am not unmindful of the need to regularly engage members of your association, most especially, in the fulfilment of the two focal thrust of my tenure which includes Image Building and Strategic Engagement. Permit me to reiterate that the Council is committed to engaging members of the fourth realm of the estate, especially your Association at all times to air its policies and programmes.
 
THRUST OF OFFICE:
Before my emergence as the President of the Council, I realized that many Nigerians still misconstrued the role and personality of the Insurance Broker. Some erroneously refer to him as a Stock Broker. As a matter of fact, Many Nigerians are conversant with who a Stock Broker is than an Insurance Broker. This mis-identity has continued to hamper the business of our members who in actual sense produce the largest chunk of insurance business in the country.
The relevance of Brokers to insurance industry cannot be undermined. In other to correct this misnomer, this administration has to coined it’s Thrust of Office around Image Building and Strategic Engagement. Our intention is to create the deserving aural around the profession and make it a household name. In the furtherance of this mandate, we have continued to engage other professional bodies such as Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, (LCCI), Chartered Institute of Taxation (CITN), FIRS. In a similar vein, we have been able to append the signatures of net worth Nigerians to the brand of the Broker and we are still doing more. Today, we have as our Brand Ambassadors the likes of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Eze Leslie Eke, Eze Gbakagbaka of Evo Kingdom, River State. This was deliberate strategy to get to every stratum of Nigerian population. Our mandate is to project the image of the industry and particularly insurance broking. We have continued to work through the Council’s Area Committees to reach out to members of the public. Within the last one year, this administration has visited the six geopolitical zones with the aim of propagating the positive image of the Broking fraternity to the grassroots via the Area Committee structure, and this has yielded positive results. 
 
 
 
CONSOLIDATED INSURANCE BILL
Permit me to use this medium to inform you that the Council has had the opportunity of making its input into the Consolidated Insurance Bill currently before the National Assembly. It is most heartwarming that the National Assembly Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters has been quite supportive of the Council and the need to ensure continuous survival and viability of Insurance Broking practice in Nigeria. Special appreciation should be given to the Chairman of the Committee, Honorable Darlington Nwokocha for his openness and dexterity in superintending over the process. Similar appreciation should go to the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. O. S Thomas for creating the required regulatory ambiance for all stakeholders in the industry to ventilate their views about the bill for a more robust and vibrant insurance industry.       
 
ENFORCEMENT OF COMPULSORY INSURANCE
Without doubt, one would have expected an industry, which is two years older than Nigeria to have recorded tremendous feats in its contribution to the nation’s economy. Sadly, reverse has been the case and this is hinged on the numerous challenges such as low penetration, among others confronting the sector. Over the years, the National Insurance Commission has evolved with some strategies to deepen insurance penetration. In my personal view, some of the feats taken by the Commission were laudable, which has moved us from where we used to be. It should be noted that a nation’s cannot develop beyond its insurance sector. In other words, the poor state of our nation’s economy today cannot be divulged from the poor state of insurance industry. For example, most companies that ought to have contributed immensely to the development of the nation are no more in existence, because they could not get succor when the ship was down. Many small business owners could not grow beyond a year because they did not factor in insurance from onset. Insurance is key to the development of any nation. It is on that note that I like to appeal to the Government to help the industry by taking more strategic position in enforcement of Compulsory Insurance Policies. There must be conscious efforts to continually sensitize the insuring public on the importance of insurance. This must start from the top. 
       
SPATE OF KILLINGS, KIDNAPPING AND BUILDING COLLAPSE IN NIGERIA
To say that the rate of killings and kidnapping in Nigeria is endemic is to state the obvious. The recent rate of attacks on people in most part of the Nation is so disheartening. It is worrisome seeing how Nigerians are being massacred in their own fatherland unabated. It is difficult to read the mindset of these dare devil hoodlums, who have decided to unleash terror on unsuspecting and innocent Nigerians. Our heartfelt sympathy goes to the government and the people of affected States, especially, the immediate families of the victims. However, I like to join several other Nigerians to appeal to the Federal Government, as a matter of urgency, declare a state of emergency on terrorism and killings, especially in the Northern part of Nigeria. We appeal to Mr. President to instruct all the service chiefs to take responsibilities for the killings and kidnappings that has continued to tarnish the image of the Country. It is important to note that with the spate of killings and kidnapping in Nigeria, if nothing is done as soon as possible, it will deter investors from investing in Nigeria economy. In a similar vein, it is important to call on the government to take decisive measures against incessant building collapse in Nigeria. It is essential for government to facilitate meetings of all stakeholders in other to reach a compromise on methods to adopt in stemming the tide. Kindly permit me to state at this juncture that the enforcement of Section 64 and Section 65 of Insurance Act 2003 should be prioritized. 
CONCLUSION
Gentlemen of the Press, it is my pleasure to once again welcome you to the NCRIB Secretariat and to appreciate you for finding time to attend this press briefing. We are convinced beyond measure that you will continue to do justice to your reportage for the benefit of the industry. Thank you 
Dr. (Mrs.) Bola Onigbogi, FCIB
President, Chairman Governing Board