The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Riskguard Africa, Nigeria Limited, a pension and insurance consulting firm, Mr. Yemi Soladoye, has said that 40 per cent of Nigerians lack any knowledge about the meaning of insurance.
While speaking in Lagos on the major developments that had taken place in the insurance industry, he noted that the fact was discovered from a research work that was carried out under the development of microinsurance, which was made available to the National Insurance Commission.
Soladoye said, “According to a report submitted to NAICOM, at the end of the feasibility study for sales of microinsurance, the report revealed that 40 per cent of Nigerians don’t have any opinion about what insurance is all about, whether positive or negative.”
According to the findings, most of those asked questions about insurance did not know what insurance does to individuals or the society, while some saw insurance as a means to borrow money to buy assets.
The insurance expert said that when the industry commenced campaign on the benefits of compulsory insurance, many people were excited about it and showed their readiness to obtain some of the insurance policies.
He worried that the mortgage industry in the country, which should maximise the potentials of insurance to grow, was not well developed to be able to utilise insurance effectively.