Nigeria’s Insurance Sector Sets N1 Trillion Premium Target
By Fredrick Wright
Nigeria’s insurance industry may have set a motion in place to achieve about N1 trillion premium mark in in few years.
The sector recorded N726.2 billion gross premium income in 2022, but the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) said the industry is expected to achieve N1 trillion in the next one or two years.
The Commissioner for Insurance/Chief Executive Officer, NAICOM, Olorundare Sunday Thomas, in his keynote address at the Oriental News Summit held in Lagos said, urged investors particularly in the oil and gas industry to patronise the local insurance sector.
He reiterated NAICOM’s commitment to creating an enabling environment that will consistently enhance increased capacity of the insurance institutions both financially and technically in line with the guidelines for oil and gas insurance business.
He also called on operators in the oil and gas sector, to ensure timely compliance with the requirements of the guidelines jointly issued by the NAICOM and Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in pursuant to the requirements of Sections 49 and 50 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD)Act 2010.
He said: “If you have any crazy ideas, come and try it. We will give you time to get into the market, we will monitor, and once we are sure it will add value to the public, we will give you the go ahead.
“I have said it clearly that anything that is going to deepen the market, you can count on me, I’m ready to waive anything that can be waived within the power that is given to me or the commission.
“Of course we will need to deepen the market. If we cannot be making a trillion in the next one or two years, then, we are not there. Because the resources that we have in Nigeria are so massive and so under tapped. So I want to please ask that the collaboration with the oil and gas sector should be sustained.
He however noted that there is the urge to intensify the ongoing drive to facilitate platforms that will address the demand-supply gap; encourage specialized products that address the needs of the oil and gas industry. Address all potential regulatory impediments; support the development of human capacity and ensure technical capacities of insurance suppliers; and ensure adequate risk pricing and comprehensive coverage and risk management.
Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote, urged the oil and gas operators to imbibe the practice of local content in their system by patronising local insurance firms.
Wabote, who was represented by Director, Corporate Services, NCDMB, Patric Oba confirmed that the performance of the insurance sector, particularly in relation to oil and gas businesses is low, urging the insurance operators to bridge the capacity and capability gap.
He said:” We need to grow local capacity and capabilities. We have created a strategic roadmap from 2017 – 2027 to grow local content to 70% and we are working aggressively to meet that target,”
