L-R: Mr. Bode Opadogun, Managing Director, FBN General Insurance/representative of Chairman, NIA; Mr. Babatunde Phillips, Head, Benefits, National Pension Commission (PenCom); Mrs Ronke Adedeji, President, Association of Pension Fund Operators of Nigeria; Mohammad Ahmad, former Director General, PenCom, and Mr. Leo Akah, representing the Acting Commissioner for Insurance, during the 4th edition of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) National Conference in Lagos

 

By Ngozi Onyeakusi — Stakeholders of pension and insurance sectors has made case for the two sectors.
This is contained in a Communique Issued at the end of 4th NAIPCO Annual National Conference held at Four Point By Sheraton Hotel Lagos on August 29th, 2019.

The stakeholders who gathered at the conference from Pension, Insurance and informal sector group listened to the theme paper which centered on Financial Inclusion :The Micro Agenda for insurance and Pension Sectors, presented by Dr Pius Apere, MD\CEO Achor Actuarial Services Limited made the following resolutions

1. Regulation: That the regulators for the two sectors should adopt light regulation model to drive micro pension and insurance to achieve financial inclusiveness.
2. Engagement: That the two sector regulators as a matter of policy, should engage informal sector operators to understand their peculiarities and needs to formulate policies that will drive their operations and break their burden of financial exclusion.
3. Trust: that inspite of the challenges in the business environment, if the operators of the two sectors should build the much desired trust and confidence, that will drive the relationship with the target micro market segment, and make them see the value in the services they render , they will attract more contributors and insuring public into their net.
4. Technology: that operators and regulators of the two sectors should leverage on technology especially telcos to reach the masses with financial inclusion message to improve the level of financial literacy in Nigeria.
5. Operators should give due consideration to attachment of incentives to woo and retain contributors and policy holders.

6. The potentials in the market are so huge that operators should take cognisance of all the segments of the informal sector and device peculiar ways to engage them and make them sign on to financial inclusion.

7.Rather than assume that the micro market segment have adequate knowledge of their products and services, they should create improved and sustained education, awareness programme that will broaden their understanding of their services and improve on their level of financial literacy.