By Ngozi Onyeakusi—A new group of insurance and pension journalists, the Insurance and Pension Editors of Nigeria (IPEN) has unveiled its identity with a firm promise to deepen insurance and pension penetration in Nigeria through professional and comprehensive reporting and coverage of the two sectors.

IPEN, whose mandate is to partner stakeholders to ensure they fulfil their commitment to policyholders and retirees as enshrined in the laws that established them, said: “We are committed towards the realisation of the insurance industry’s expanded penetration of insurance business in Nigeria and also to ensure comfortable retirement for retirees through the new pension scheme.”

Reacting to the development, Mr Chuks Udo Okonta, the Chairman of IPEN noted that the Group has Professionalism, Discipline and Enterprise as its guiding principles, stressing that IPEN is ready to collaborate with industry stakeholders (regulators and operators) in both the insurance and pension sectors to achieve the corporate objectives of the two markets.

Stressing that the current members have been reporting the two sectors for two to three decades or more, Okonta maintained that, IPEN will drill its members to ensure they produce qualitative write-ups that addresses the challenges of both sectors as well as proffer solutions.

“We shall continuously, as individuals and as a Group, add value to the brand image and reputation of both regulators and operators in the two sectors,” he pointed out.

“We shall equally provide seamless editorial coverage of their corporate activities in terms of policy implementation and corporate goals respectively. We look forward to robust partnership with regulators and operators in the insurance and pension sectors of the Nigerian economy going forward.”

The current members of IPEN include:

· Chuks Okonta: InspenOnline

· Omobola Tolu-Kusimo: The Nation Newspaper

· Zaka Khaliq: Leadership Newspaper

· Ngozi Onyeakusi: SuperNews Online

· Prince Cookey: Business Journal

· Bisi Bamishe: Bislad News Online