The Nation Newspaper

Tag: cover

  • ‘94.4% of adults have no insurance cover’

    ‘94.4% of adults have no insurance cover’

    About 94.4 per cent of the country’s adults have no form of insurance, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), has said.

    The Commission, citing the 2016 EFInA research findings, said insurance uptake of the adult population remains low at 1.9 per cent.

    This means that only about two million of the adult population have one form of insurance or the other.

    Speaking at the just concluded 2017 Annual Seminar for Insurance Correspondents organised by NAICOM in Kaduna, Kaduna State, Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari said there has been challenges and barriers hindering insurance penetration in the country.

    Stating reasons behind the low insurance uptake, he said the distance of the insurance providers to the rural areas or the unreached is a common challenge.

    He pointed out that most companies are based in the city pursing corporate and government accounts.

    In a paper presented by NAICOM Director, Authorisation and Policy, Agboola Pius, a large population of adults are financially excluded.

    He said while 58.4 per cent are financially served, 41.6 per cent representing, 40.1 million adult are financially excluded.

    Quoting the 2016 EFInA research findings, he added that banked population is 38.3 per cent, representing 38.9 million.

    He stressed that while 14.9 per cent said they have nothing to insure, 10.1 per cent said they have no reason to insure.

    He said out of those who do not believe in insurance, 12.2 per cent do not know the benefit of having one while 6.8 per cent believe insurers do not settle claims.

    But some, he said, cannot afford to pay for insurance. In this category, 10.8 per cent do not know where to go to get one and three per cent believe God will take care of what they would need to take a cover.

    He said apart from distance which is a challenge to getting many people insured, there is also the issue of inappropriate products, insurance distribution, low income and unreached customers; low awareness, and inadequate services and deployment of inappropriate technology or no technology at all.

    On initiatives needed towards enhancing insurance access to the unreached, Agboola noted that there was need for the transformation of the informal and quasi–informal group into a formal group through appropriate distribution channels.

    He said: “There must be appropriate and sustainable distribution channels that recognise these groups as necessary. The regulator (NAICOM), having noted these gaps and has started developing appropriate framework and guidelines in many areas such as NGO/Community Based/Trade Associations; Microfinance Banks; independent agents, among others. The Commission has exposed few of the Guidelines.

    “Other initiative needed is minimum documentation and Know Your Customer (KYC) requirement; collaboration between the regulator and state governments and other Federal Government agencies; innovative and appropriate technology; and co-ordinated insurance consumer awareness and education.

  • Nigeria needs $3.7b to cover underserved areas

    Nigeria needs $3.7b to cover underserved areas

    About $3.7billion is needed to bridge the digital divide existing in the country inspite of the progress recorded in the telecoms sector. Communication Technology Minister, Dr (Mrs) Omobola Johnson, who disclosed this, said the money would be needed to reach the various underserved people in different parts of the country.

    Already, the government, through a study, has identified about 207 communities, which are yet to benefit from the telecoms revolution. These communities have been grouped into subsidy clusters across the six geo-political zones for  the government to  through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) design projects and strategy to bridge the gaps and ensure that everyone, irrespective of locality, is connected.

    According to her, each cluster has the requisite attributes of sizeable population, major towns, main economic activities, institutions and others, adding that these gaps are expected to be filled by 2018 and would allow about 40 million Nigerians to gain access to voice services.

    On the challenges to government’s efforts at creating digital citizens through pervasive spread of broadband, Dr Johnson, who spoke during the presentation of the report of a study carried out by the USPF in Lagos, identified the challenge of right of way (RoW), multiple taxation/regulation, encouraging the demand side by ensuring that people adopt technology, cost of access to infrastructure, and the challenge of local content among others.

    In her opening remarks during a sideline gathering facilitated by Ericson and a4ai at which a report was presented by Alliance for Affordable Internet (a4ai) during the Mobile World Congress, she said the $3.7billion funding will be required to provide the requisite infrastructure that will take services to the un-served and underserved areas of the country.

    Dr Johnson said the Federal Government’s decision to create Communication Technology Ministry underscored the importance the administration placed on the ICT sector as a veritable driver of the economy.

    Executive Director, a4ai, Sonia Jorge, said the success recorded in the country’s telecoms sector was driven by strong leadership and regulation of the industry, robust broadband strategy, effective competition, efficient spectrum allocation, 4niversal access to rural and underserved population, and infrastructure sharing, among others.

  • Nigeria needs $3.7b to cover underserved areas

    Nigeria needs $3.7b to cover underserved areas

    About $3.7billion is needed to bridge the digital divide existing in the country inspite of the progress recorded in the telecoms sector. Communication Technology Minister, Dr (Mrs) Omobola Johnson, who disclosed this, said the money would be needed to reach the various underserved people in different parts of the country.

    Already, the government, through a study, has identified about 207 communities, which are yet to benefit from the telecoms revolution. These communities have been grouped into subsidy clusters across the six geo-political zones for  the government to  through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) design projects and strategy to bridge the gaps and ensure that everyone, irrespective of locality, is connected.

    According to her, each cluster has the requisite attributes of sizeable population, major towns, main economic activities, institutions and others, adding that these gaps are expected to be filled by 2018 and would allow about 40 million Nigerians to gain access to voice services.

    On the challenges to government’s efforts at creating digital citizens through pervasive spread of broadband, Dr Johnson, who spoke during the presentation of the report of a study carried out by the USPF in Lagos, identified the challenge of right of way (RoW), multiple taxation/regulation, encouraging the demand side by ensuring that people adopt technology, cost of access to infrastructure, and the challenge of local content among others.

    In her opening remarks during a sideline gathering facilitated by Ericson and a4ai at which a report was presented by Alliance for Affordable Internet (a4ai) during the Mobile World Congress, she said the $3.7billion funding will be required to provide the requisite infrastructure that will take services to the un-served and underserved areas of the country.

    Dr Johnson said the Federal Government’s decision to create Communication Technology Ministry underscored the importance the administration placed on the ICT sector as a veritable driver of the economy.

    Executive Director, a4ai, Sonia Jorge, said the success recorded in the country’s telecoms sector was driven by strong leadership and regulation of the industry, robust broadband strategy, effective competition, efficient spectrum allocation, 4niversal access to rural and underserved population, and infrastructure sharing, among others.

  • NEITI’s audit to cover CBN, others

    NEITI’s audit to cover CBN, others

    A gencies that have anything to do with funds from the extractive industry will be audited by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

    A list of agencies to be audited by the auditors recently appointed by NEITI has been expanded to include Tertiary Education Fund (TetFund), Central Bank of Nigeria (Development of Natural Resources fund) and the Administration and Application of Excess Crude Oil Account.

    As a result of this development, NEITI and the appointed auditors for the proposed audit of revenues and disbursements of allocated funds to entities involved in the extractive industries will meet this week to agree on the take off date of the exercise and the agencies that will be covered during the first phase of the exercise nationwide.

    A Presidency source told reporters in Abuja at the weekend that the top level meeting between NEITI and the appointed auditors “was convened to avoid any prevarications on the audit which, in addition to the oil and gas activities, will cover major agencies in the extractive industrial sector including, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Federal Government of Nigeria’s share of Derivation and Ecology Fund and the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).”

    Others that will be covered by the Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement Audit from 2007 to 2011 are the Tertiary Education Fund (TetFund), Central Bank of Nigeria (Development of Natural Resources) and the Administration and Application of Excess Crude Oil Account.

    The source, who is close to the Presidency and the NEITI said: “It is an all-embracing exercise that will cover the agencies that have one or two things to do with the funds derivable from the sector and disbursed to all agencies or institutions that have benefitted from such allocations and disbursements.”

    According to the source, the “Presidency is determined to ensure that transparency and accountability become the rule of all financial and operational modalities in the extractive industries. Hence the approval of the Federal Executive Council that the five-year audit should be embarked upon without further delay.”

    She said: “The audit will not be limited to the oil and gas sector alone, but to players in all sectors of the extractive industries. This is necessary to get things done and achieve the purpose of the audit.”

    Some stakeholders, particularly community leaders in the six states in the Niger Delta region, have hailed the Federal Government for appointing auditors to look into the allocations and disbursements of the extractive industries which, they said would help to determine how the funds had been utilised by the states.

    They urged NEITI to interface with the oil and gas communities in their states, namely Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Bayelsa and Ondo to investigate the utilisation of the 13 per cent Derivation Fund, which they claimed had been wasted by their state governments over the past decades with nothing to show for the disbursements in terms of physical infrastructure and socio-economic state of their communities.