By Favour Nnabugwu

Nigerians travelling to Dubai must take a direct flight to the United Arab Emirates ,UAE, otherwise all transit flights with Nigerian passengers into Dubai is banned.

This means all passengers from Nigeria must fly directly from Nigeria to Dubai without stopping over in another country.

The UAE in a travel advisory tagged, “Dubai Travel Protocol Update-Travel from Nigeria”revealed this yesterday.

This is a tactical ban of other foreign Airlines from carrying Nigerian Passengers as only Emirates flies directly to Dubai. Nigeria Air Peace airline also fly directly to Dubai through Sharjah Airport which is 15 minutes drive from Dubai.

All Nigerians who have visited home in the last 14 days will not be allowed to fly to Dubai through Nairobi-Kenya, Addis Ababa-Ethiopia, Cairo-Egypt, Kigali-Rwanda , amongst other. Other European countries are affected by this new policy issued by the UAE geared towards reducing the spread of Covid-19.

This policy is expected to greatly affect competition by African and European airlines on the lucrative Dubai route.
The travel advisory also explains that all ” departing Nigerians to Dubai are required to obtain a negative COVID-19 certificate and the PCR must be conducted within 72 hours of the date of departure.

It further adds that ” all passengers are required to conduct a rapid COVID-19 test and obtain a negative result within four hours of their departure time. Passengers must travel directly from Nigeria to Dubai”.

There are reports that some foreign airlines have started reacting. Some said they would refund and also not lift passengers from Nigeria to Dubai from January 31, 2021 until further notice.

“You are hereby adviced to check & cancel all your bookings & inform your passengers this new development”, a memo by an airline said

Travelers arriving in Tunisia will have to comply with stricter health measures effecttive from February 1,:2020.

Arrivals coming from countries concerned with the emergence of the new strain of COVID-19 must respect the strict measures, 

The purpose is to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

In this regard, travelers from abroad are required to undergo a mandatory quarantine of one week in one of the hotels dedicated for this purpose. Accommodation expenses will be borne by the traveler

This decision means “all travellers coming to Tunisia must present a negative PCR test for the coronavirus within 72 hours before the trip

Besides presenting a negative PCR test, upon their arrival, they must pass from a crossing point of COVID-19 antigen-based rapid diagnostic test.

Upon arrival, the traveler must submit a negative RT-PCR test taken during the 72 hours prior to boarding, a reservation in one of the hotels dedicated to the quarantine and a voucher confirming payment for the stay.

On the seventh day of mandatory quarantine, each person must take an RT-PCR test at their own expense. If the result is negative, the person may leave the hotel while still complying with the health protocol.

A 14-day quarantine commitment will be required for all passengers coming from abroad, who can spend the compulsory quarantine in a hotel or at home, “with the possibility of conducting a second lab test for coronavirus on the seventh day of quarantine to ensure that the person is free of the disease, thus reducing the compulsory quarantine to a week,” read the statement.

A Nigerian woman identified as Sola Ismail has further boost the integrity of Nigeria after she refunded N38 million to a Chinese company errorously paid into her account.

In a post via Facebook, Elder Olabisi Ekwueme stated that the company had initially refused to refund her money for products she paid for which were out of stock.

Since the products were out of stock, she demanded a refund of the N41,000 she paid for the products. However, the company upon stating its reasons, said it would only refund N38,000.

As a way of avoiding total loss, though not pleased, Sola agreed to the refund. Upon getting an alert, she was credited with N38 million, which was an error from the company.

According to Ekwueme, the businesswoman went to the bank to refund the company’s money “but deducted the bank charges.

“And then, the Chinese company returned the N41k they really should have returned for starters.”

He lauded Sola’s show of integrity, adding that “Nigerians are great people.”

Coronation Insurance Plc, formerly Wapic Insurance Plc has recorded an improved financial performance in its unaudited for  the year ended 31 December 2020 as gross written premium soared to N16.178 billion from N15.201 billion in 2019.

According to the firms filing with the  Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) its profit after tax jumped by 254% to N759.265 million from N214.327 million in 2019.

Recall that the  multi-line insurance company, in  the period ended 30th September, 2020 recorded a Gross Written Premium to the tune of N13.26bn for its unaudited financial results for the period ended 30th September, 2020.

This represents a growth rate of 5% when compared to the figure recorded in the same period in 2019. We sustained this consistent growth in premium by the attainment of leadership status on some major accounts and enhanced underwriting capabilities, said the firm.

According to statement the group’s total underwriting profit grew by 6 percent to N2.67billion year-on-year growth from the N2.45bn recorded in the preceding period of 2019, this the company said is driven by the growth in premiums income and fees and commission income.

The Group closed with a Profit before Tax of N1.07bn representing a YoY decline of 2%, adding that the key drivers of this position were increases in claims and operating expenses for the period.

LASACO Assurance P1c, an active player in Nigeria’s sector said it had obtained regulatory approvals to reconstruct its issued and fully paid-up Share Capital of 7,334,343,421 Ordinary shares of S0kobo each in the ratio One (1) new Ordinary share for every Four (4) Ordinary shares previously hetd by the shareholders of LASACO Assurance Plc.

In a notice at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, LASACO said the move followed the approval of the shareholders at the 39th Annual General Meeting of the company held on 8th October, 2019.

To enable the reconstruction of the shares, the company had given notice of the suspension of trading on the shares of LASACO for two weeks beginning from Monday Ist February, 2021 to Friday 12th February, 2021 both days inclusive.

“The Register of shareholders shall be closed for this period to enable the Central Securities Clearing Systems P1c.(CSCS) and Apel Capital Registrars Limited, the Registrars to LASACO, to finalize the Reconstruction of the shares and produce a new Register for the Company,” the notice said.

The hardening reinsurance market could mean higher prices for corporate insurance buyers into 2021 and signal a period of restricted coverage and reduced underwriting flexibility. The hardening reinsurance market is likely to exert more influence on the primary commercial P&C and specialty markets than has been the case in previous years, according to Clarissa Franks, managing director and risk management placement leader at Marsh UK.

“Reinsurance is vital to insurers’ ability to operate and is a key operational expense. As insurers seek to improve profitability, it may not be feasible for insurers to absorb additional reinsurance costs, which may result in price increases for buyers,” she told Commercial Risk Europe.

Changes in the direct and facultative reinsurance market during the past 18 months have affected the ability of some insurers to offer the same level of cover they once could, according Ms Franks. Now the treaty market, the mainstay of reinsurance protection for most large insurers, is also showing signs of change, she explained.

Many specialty property insurers had come to overly rely on facultative reinsurance, which is traditionally used by primary carriers to address specific risks or regions such as high concentrations of catastrophe risks, or very large corporate insurance programmes, according to Ms Franks.

However, following a run of catastrophe losses in 2017 and 2018, as well as efforts by Lloyd’s to root out underperforming business, the facultative market has contracted, forcing some insurers to suddenly adjust line size and capacity, she explained.

Perhaps more significantly, treaty renewals in the second half of 2020 point to further changes in the reinsurance market, with price increases and coverage restrictions in some “topical areas”, said Ms Franks. “The ramifications for P&C and specialty treaty renewals so far this year has been for coverage and exclusions for communicable diseases,” she said.

“The theme coming through is that there may be a level of inflexibility from insurers due to reinsurance conditions,” said Ms Franks. “If you are a corporate buyer, you will be used to getting bespoke cover. Now, some cover – like communicable diseases or silent cyber – may not be available, no matter how confident the underwriter is, because there is no longer reinsurance protection available,” she said.

Treaty reinsurers are mandating exclusions for communicable diseases in some lines, as well as for silent cyber and civil unrest in property coverages, Ms Franks continued.

“Now, insurers have little choice as reinsurers are mandating exclusions. This is true for silent cyber, where reinsurers seek to identify and minimise cyber cover in non-cyber P&C insurance,” she said.

Reinsurance capacity remains adequate for most lines, however, it is “tightening” for certain loss-affected areas, such as financial, retro and US auto, according to Ross Howard, global executive chairman of Lockton Re. Risks that have experienced major losses are “truly hard”, he told CRE.

For example, reinsurance capacity for directors and officers insurance is “seriously tightening” as a number of players have withdrawn from the market, making it harder to place programmes. Reinsurers are also growing more cautious of cyber exposures, in part due to a rise in ransomware claims and concern for systemic risks, exacerbated by the pandemic, according to Mr Howard.

Specialty lines with poor loss records are under increased scrutiny and subject to price increases, according to Gianfranco Lot, head of globals, reinsurance at Swiss Re. Marine, energy and aviation, as well as specialist property areas like engineering and mining are undergoing a “correction”, while trade credit insurance is in sharp focus given the impact of the pandemic on the global economy, he said.

Like other reinsurers, Swiss Re is taking a tougher stance on casualty reinsurance at renewals, in part a reflection of social inflation and low interest rates, according to Mr Lot. “The US liability market is hard. Capacity in the reinsurance market has reduced and reinsurers are demanding improved conditions. Prices have been pushed up in the past 18 months and we expect they will do for some while longer,” he said.

Faced with higher reinsurance costs, insurers have a number of options. These include passing on the additional costs, absorbing increases or restructuring their reinsurance programmes and primary insurance offerings. “Increased reinsurance pricing will, at the very least, help sustain pricing on the primary side,” said Michael Van Slooten, head of business intelligence at Aon Reinsurance Solutions.

“Reinsurance buyers will have to pay more for their cover, but I would argue that they are receiving enough at the front end to cope. There does need to be a catchup as reinsurers’ earnings are well below expectations,” he added.

Changes in the reinsurance market are driven by the need to address poor results, according to Mr Van Slooten. Reinsurers’ earnings have fallen due to a combination of factors, including catastrophe losses, social inflation, low interest rates and the effects of almost a decade of market softening, which eroded premium rates by as much as one third in some lines, he said.

“The reinsurance sector remains well capitalised despite a run of losses, which has helped keep a lid on rates. But we are at a point where tolerance of poor earnings has gone and management teams are under pressure to increase earnings. Increasing today’s pricing is really the only lever left to reinsurers,” he added.

Unlike past hard market cycles, current hardening is not a consequence of falling capacity, explained Mr Van Slooten. In fact, reinsurance market capital has proved resilient despite the pandemic, and some new capital has flowed into the market. According to Aon, global reinsurer capital was broadly flat during the nine months to 30 September 2020.

Despite recent catastrophe events and a global pandemic, reinsurers remain well capitalised, agreed Carlos Wong-Fupuy, senior director of global reinsurance ratings at AM Best. He expects the hard market to continue throughout next year.

“In order to compensate for previous losses, we would expect the hardening market to last through 2021. This assumes a continued period of historically low investment returns, a required return on capital aligned with a more uncertain underwriting and economic environment, and improved market discipline, with no material influx of naive capacity,” he added.

In response to hardening rates, there have been a number of capital-raising initiatives and startup (re)insurance companies formed. For example, in December, Inigo and Vantage were launched with $800m and $1bn of capital respectively, while Conduit Re floated in London with a $1.1bn capitalisation.

“While not insignificant individually, currently they do not represent a material addition to the $470bn that we estimate as combined capital for the whole market. Combined with the existing third-party capital capacity – which may marginally decline this year, we still anticipate in total a slight reduction compared to the previous year,” said Mr Wong-Fupuy.

“Given the current global pandemic and economic situation in general, we believe most new entrants may face a challenging environment dominated by a flight to quality that favours more established, highly rated competitors,” he said.

Reinsurance market conditions will contribute to higher prices in most commercial lines in 2021, but there are a number of other trends contributing to continued upward trajectory of prices in the insurance market, said Jennifer Marshall, director at AM Best. “It’s difficult to separate the specific effect of the hardening reinsurance market from those other trends but, clearly, the reinsurance market is contributing to the dynamic,” she said.

“We expect that insurers will carefully re-evaluate their reinsurance needs, and it’s likely that there will be some increased retentions and reductions in excess layers, particularly for more opportunistic buys made when reinsurance market conditions were softer. This may drive some change in primary market capacity, as insurers reduce availability of increased limits and excess coverage. Changes in insurance policies, particularly bespoke programmes for large commercial insureds, may be needed if reinsurers implement and maintain stricter policies about what underlying exposures they will cover,” she added.

Universal Insurance Plc, has rolled out  insurance products called Okada Personal Assurance & Safety Scheme (Okada Pass), which are to ensure the safety of Okada riders and their passengers in Nigeria.

Okada Pass plan is uniquely designed to provide cover for personal accident to the insured Okada rider. The products will also be sold as an individual policy and as a group scheme to Okada riders.

The plan is a compensation plan for riders in case of an accident. The premium amount to pay will however depend on the Type of Plan you choose.

The Okada Personal Assurance & Safety Scheme (Okada Pass) comes in five different plans:

Jeje Cover- With as low as N2,300 yearly premium a rider can get paid up to N50,000 for Medical Expenses; N100,000 for Permanent Disability; N100,000 for Death; N50,000 for Third Party Liability and 10,000 for Repair Assist (Owned damage).

Carry -Go Cover: Enables the rider to get paid up to: N75,000 for Medical Expenses; N150,000 for Permanent Disability; N150,000 for Death; N65,000 for Third Party Liabilities and N15,000 for Repair Assist (Owned damage). This cover attracts a yearly premium of N3,400.

The No-Shaking Cover comes with an annual premium of ₦4,000 which covers the Rider and enables him to get paid up to: N80,000 for Medical Expenses; N200,000 for Permanent Disability; N200,000 for Death; N70,000 for Third Party Liability and N20,000 for Repair Assist (Owned damage).

Under the Confaam Cover, riders are expected to get N80,000 for Medical Expenses; N200,000 for Permanent Disability; N200,000 for Death; ₦70,000 for Third Party Liability; ₦20,000 for Repair Assist (Owned damage) and ₦20,000 for Passengers Medical Expenses. The premium for this cover is ₦4,400 per year.

The Digital Bike Cover allows policyholders to pay a yearly premium up to N10,400 which qualifies them to get paid up to N100,000 for Medical Expenses; ₦250,000 for Permanent Disability; ₦250,000 for Death; ₦75,000 for Third Party Liability; ₦50,000 for Repair Assist (Owned damage); ₦50,000 for Passengers Medical Expenses and ₦250,000 for Goods/Parcel (Annual Limit).

Speaking on the product, the Managing Director, Mr Benedict Ujoatuonu, stated that Okada Pass is an innovative product that provides benefits to Okada riders.

According to Ujoatuonu, “If you take a look at the level of accidents that involve the Okada riders every day on Nigerian roads, they are high and most often you discover they are left without any form of Benefits that come from insurance. So, this is what our Okada Pass is coming to take care of”.

“We provide them with personal accident Cover that makes sure that when they sustain any injury that requires medical attention,they will get it from the policy. Even if it is disability which is very rampant in Okada business, they will be covered by our policy. We will compensate the family of the rider if it results to death. Our Okada Pass is an innovative insurance product which has everything they need in the Cover.”

He urged Okada riders and their groups to embrace the new products so that they can create benefits for their members which will in turn sustain their business.

With an asset base of over N11Billion, authorized, share capital of 16Billion units and N8Billion paid-up respectively,Universal Insurance Plc. is a General Business organizationregistered to underwrite General Insurance business.

The Managing Director revealed that the Company is now fully computerized to drive excellence in service delivery adding that they are widely known for providing peace of mind to their clients and enriching their quality of life through their partnership in the management of the risks they face.

The Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) says the dearth of skilled professionals in the marine insurance business is responsible for the low number of practitioners in the sector.

CIIN President, Mr Muftau Oyegunle, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.

He spoke against the backdrop of dearth of skilled professionals in marine insurance business in the country.

Oyegunle regretted that most of these practitioners were nursing fear of the unknown for the future of the marine insurance business in Nigeria.

“To the credit of the institute, every year, the number of professionals we produce is increasing, though the increase may not be in radical numbers, but the number of professionals have been going up.

“The issue here is in the area of specialisation. Where are people concentrating their efforts? At a stage, it was aviation insurance that was the problem.

“Another stage, it was life insurance that was the problem, but these days, there are whispers of marine insurance here and there.

“For marine insurance, we have more than three marine courses in our syllabus; that is, one at the diploma level and two at the qualifying level.

“But the question is, are people taking them? My answer may be as good as yours; because if people are taking them, I think the industry will not be complaining,” he said.

He noted that it would be out of place to force people to become specialists in certain areas.

Oyegunle added that the courses were for them to freely specialise in their areas of choice.

”But of course, you know people will specialise in areas they feel they have a clear future for,” he added.

Chief Arthur Okorie Uzoma Okowa, the father of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, South-South Nigeria, has passed away.

THE father of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Chief Arthur Okorie Uzoma Okowa is dead.

He died in the early hours of Thursday at the age of 88. The Governor’s father who hails from Owa-Alero, Ika North East Local Government Area of the State, reportedly died at Asaba.

Until his death, the late Chief Arthur Okorie Uzoma Okowa popularly called AOU, was the Okpara-Uku of Owa-Alero.

Until his death, the late Chief Arthur Okorie Uzoma Okowa popularly called AOU was the Okpara-Uku of Owa-Alero.

 

 

Ganiyu Musa has been inaugurated as the Chairman, Council of Bureaux, ECOWAS Brown Card at the 37th Session of the Council in Abuja.

Musa is the current Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and Group Managing Director (GMD), Cornerstone Insurance Plc.

The 37th Ordinary General Assembly of the Council of Bureaux, ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme, with the main topic, ‘ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance : Emerging Challenges & Strategies for a better future’ held virtually in line with COVID-19 directives

The ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme was established by Protocol A/P1/5/82 signed by the Head of States and Governments of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), on 29th may 1982 in Cotonou, People’s Republic of Benin.

The main objective of the Scheme is to ensure prompt and fair compensation to the victims of road accidents for the damages caused them by non residing motorists travelling from other ECOWAS member States to their country. In Europe, Green Card is a similar scheme implemented in 1953.

The ECOWAS Brown Card Scheme operates through a 14 National Bureaux network spread throughout the fourteen Member States. Each National Bureau plays two major roles, which are; to ensure Brown Card availability for local motorists : National Bureau operates therefore as an Issuing Bureau and to conduct investigation and settle claims arising from an accident caused by motorist holders of Brown Card. It then acts as a Handling Bureau.

Musa in his acceptance speech, promised to address all the highlighted challenges bedeviling the success of the scheme, promising to leverage the successes already recorded to reshape and promote the scheme among West African countries.

He stressed that the brown card insurance scheme is an idea that could transform insurance, especially, motor insurance scheme across the borders of West African countries, adding that, it is an initiative that can raise insurance awareness and penetration across the region.

Musa is a highly experienced management professional with over 35 years of diversified experience in insurance, reinsurance, audit, consulting, business advisory and financial management. His professional experience started with Pannell Kerr Forster and later Arthur Andersen & Co where he trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant and gained top quality experience in audit and financial consulting.

He subsequently worked at African Reinsurance Corporation for 19 years, holding key positions, including Director of Finance & Accounts/Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Managing Director.

He left Africa Re in 2011 to join African Capital Alliance (ACA), a leading pan-African private equity firm as Insurance Sector Specialist and a Director on the Board of Cornerstone Insurance Plc.

He joined Cornerstone Insurance Plc in 2012 as the Group Managing Director/CEO and he is the current Chairman of the Nigerian Insurers Association having also served as Deputy Chairman and Treasurer.

Ganiyu holds a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc. Hons.) degree in Business Administration and a Master in Banking and Finance (MBF) degree, both from the University of Lagos.