By Favour Nnabugwu
The Chairman of Insurance Industry Consultative Committee (IICC) and President/Chairman of Governing Council, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigerian (CIIN) Sir Muftau Oyegunle said insurance industry touched on all aspects of the economy which requires the practitioners and the media to work together for betterment of the sector.
Sir Oyegunle in his remarks during the 2021 IICC Media Retreat arrival dinner held at the College of Insurance and Financial Management CIFM), Asese, Ogun State for National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents, NAIPCO at the weekend the practitioners cannot do it alone without the media.
He said the job of growing insurance industry is a collective responsibility and should not be left for practitioners alone and urged journalists to play their roles through constructive and conscious reports to encourage people to take insurance.
The IICC was designed to unite and promote common interest among the various arms of the sector. Personalities with the CIIN President include the CIIN Director-General, Mrs Abimbola Tiamiyu; Executive Secretary, Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Mr. Tope Adaramola; Executive Secretary of the, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and some of the facilitators, Executive Director Media Career Development Network, Mr. Lekan Otufodurin and MD, Afriglobal Insurance Brokers, Mr. Casmir Azubuike,
“The essence of coming together like this is to learn from each other and see what we can do together to move the insurance industry forward. I want to challenge you all that when you talk about insurance penetration, you make it sound like if it’s a problem for we practitioners alone. It is not so. You journalists owe us a duty – if there’s anything we can do, tell us. Make conscious reports that will encourage people to take insurance”
“If all you write about the industry is all on the negative side or that the companies are not paying claims. We are not saying that companies should not pay claims because claims payment is the beauty of insurance”
The CIIN President added, “Writing negative stories about the industry, certainly is not helping the industry. Again, let us work together and move the industry forward. No doubt about it that it is insurance that helps economies develop globally. If we get insurance right in Nigeria, it will move people out of poverty”
“So, anything this industry is doing is not in the Interest of those of us that are practitioners, it is in the interest of all Nigerians. Let’s come together, discuss and generate ideas that will help the industry and the country at large so that by the time we’re coming back next year, we would have moved an inch forward.”
