L-R: The Chairman, the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO), Mr. Chuks Udo Okonta; the managing director/CEO, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, Mr. Femi Asenuga; PRO, NAIPCO, Mrs. Amaka Obiefuna and the managing director/CEO, Mutual Benefits Life Assurance Limited, Mr. Ademola Ifagbayi; during a courtesy visit of NAIPCO Executives to Mutual Benefits headquarter in Lagos yesterday.

By Ngozi Onyeakusi—For huge Insurance penetration to take place in the country, there must be a wholistic focus on the retail business.

This was disclosed by the management of Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc when the executive members of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) paid them a courtesy visit at the insurer’s headquarters on Ikorodu Road, Lagos yesterday.

The managing director/CEO, Femi Asenuga, noted that the insurance penetration rate is still an eyesore when compared to the huge population of the country, believing that, it is high time underwriters begin to focus more on grassroots through retail insurance businesses.

He stated that, a huge underbanked and unbanked Nigerians exist in the informal sector of which insurance firms can leverage to bring them into the financial service space.

To this end, he said, this has been the ultimate goal of Mutual Benefits right from inception, a development that has made the firm a reference point for investors and stakeholders in the area of micro insurance.

According to him, ” we are restless when it comes to insuring the underserved and unserved Nigerians with financial solutions in the area of risk business in the country.

“We have become a reference point in retail business in the country and we are a reference point for investors.”

On product development, he said: “we are restless when it comes to product development. Years ago, we got approval for 36 products; this has never been done by any company in Nigeria.”

He assured that the company is not tired because there are still much to be covered.

He urged the media to keep the good work of deepening insurance awareness and sensitisation through informed and qualitative reporting, promising that, the firm was ready to assist the association in this regards.

Similarly, the managing director/CEO, Mutual Benefits Life Assurance Limited, Mr. Ademola Ifagbayi, promised that the underwriting firm will continue to piortise its claims obligations, stating that, the firm had paid several billions of naira in claims in recent years, which was a testament of its fidelity.

He called on Nigerians to patronise the firm for their insurance business, even as the company had invested in technology to continue to serve customers better and wherever they are.

Earlier, the chairman, NAIPCO, Mr. Chuks Udo Okonta, had reeled out the plans of the association to the management, which includes; the bi-annual NAIPCO Journal, Annual National Conference, Product Profiling, Advert to News Initiative, among others.

He said all these initiatives were tilted towards raising insurance awareness, calling for support of the assurance firms on these initiatives.