NAICOM To Boost Financial Inclusion In Insurance Sector

The National Insurance Commission has launched a 2021-2023 strategic plan to improve financial inclusion in the country’s insurance sector.

The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas, disclosed this on Friday during a seminar for insurance reporters, with the theme ‘NAICOM corporate strategic plan 2021 – 2023: Goals, objectives and key deliverables’.

He said the plan would help to facilitate effective and efficient service delivery, ensuring a safe, sound insurance sector, and adequately protect policy holders and the public interest.

Thomas noted that the commission was undergoing a digital transformation to ensure accountability, transparency and speed up the actualisation of financial inclusion mandate of the commission.

He spoke on the importance of the commission developing the supply side of the industry, stating that there were opportunities in the demand side to be grabbed.

He said, “With the engagement we have had with the National Content Development and Monitoring Board, there is going to be an increase in the oil and gas business, and a committee has been instituted that will make it mandatory and enforce the law on Nigerian content.

“With the National Pension Commission’s contributions amounting to N12tn, it is expected that a lot of these would find its way into the insurance sector and as such, we have been able to sign the guidelines with respect to the enforcement of corporate governance and annuity guidelines.

“The consolidated bill has been worked on and we will be engaging with the National Assembly in a week’s time for review.”

He added, “With our belief in the insurance sector being knowledge based, the NAICOM insurance academy will take off by the end of 3rd quarter or beginning of Q4.

“As part of the backward integration, we are trying to build interest in the insurance industry through assisting various tertiary institutions across the six geopolitical zones to develop their actuarial and insurance programmes.”