By Francis Ogwo
A call has been made to insurance sector operators in Nigeria to cash in on the opportunities available to it from the COVID-19 pandemic to restructure, innovate and add value to their operations.
This was made by top executives of the sector during an insurance industry Webinar put together by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), and Finance Institutions Training Centre (FITC).
Speakers who included Executive Director, AXA Mansard Insurance, Mrs. Rashedat Adebisi, and Managing Director, Scilab Insurance Brokers, Mr. Shola Tinubu, in their separate remarks were of the view that the harsh economic fallout of the pandemic and it’s uncertainties is a wake-up call to overhaul the sector.
According to Adebisi, the period in review has exposed the urgent need for more awareness of insurance while developing new packages and products not covered by insurance policies or technology.
Speaking further, she said after the COVID-19 era, the new business atmosphere would need to adopt “business intelligence, artificial intelligence, and machine learning”.
In his remarks, the Managing Director Cornerstone Insurance Plc, Mr Ganiyu Musa, said jobs will be lost after the pandemic with the lucky employees getting pay cuts, and that business owner would only be in control of cost, not profit.
He, therefore, posited that for employees to keep their jobs, they need to be more efficient and improve on their delivery while also adding that, “where there is need for job cut, employers of labour can do it in a most humane way that would leave the affected staff with dignity and hope”.
Shola Tinubu, in his remarks, stated that there are wide windows of opportunities yet to be explored by the insurance players in the country. This, he said will be made more glaring after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some of the areas he mentioned include technology and innovation, life and health insurance, government investment opportunity in both life and health insurance, and increased government investment in the health sector of the country.
He added that changes would occur in the business patterns adopted by brands and that creation of value will be key with stiff competition in pricing.
Experts say the uncertainties and risks exposed by the pandemic revisits the role of insurance and the opportunities within.
