Nigeria’s insurance sector appears to be copping well with the adverse economic environment as leading operators in the industry have reported aggregate 25.9 percent growth in Gross Premium Written, GPW, in the 2023 financial year.
Findings in the financial report of 17 insurance companies released on the Nigerian Exchange Limited reveal that GPW grew to N557.5 billion in the 2023 financial year from N442.6 billion recorded in 2022.
While speaking on developments in the sector, Chairman of the Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA, Mr. Olusegun Omosehin, said: “Despite the economic downturn being experienced in Nigeria with its cataclysmic effect on all aspect of our national life, the Nigerian insurance industry continues to take its pride of place in the Nigerian economic space as the economic driver, restorer of businesses and a dependable safeguard for national assets.
“It is worthy to note that as a subset of the national financial system, the insurance industry also had a fair dose of the general economic and socio-political problems bedeviling the country in the past one year.
“Perennial power outages, internecine conflicts between herders and farmers, menace of kidnappers and bandits, insurgency in the Northeast especially around the Lake Chad Besin, poor infrastructural facilities, galloping inflation, rising unemployment, flooding and other natural catastrophes, increasing poverty levels and the geometric rise in exchange rate of the naira to the United State (US) dollar continue to be a major challenge to businesses resulting in high cost of operations.”
Meanwhile, it will be recalled that as part of measures to boost insurance penetration and reduce gross under-insurance, the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, directed Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, of government to make full provisions for insurance of their personnel and assets.
NAICOM warned that only MDAs with budgeted/approved insurance premium appropriation will enjoy cover during the year as funding for insurance cover will only be provided for MDAs that include their insurance premiums in their budgets.
