Chieftains of the insurance industry have advised the government to insure the 2016 budget.
According to them, spending without protection or security will lead to a waste of government’s resources.
The Director-General, Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA), Sunday Thomas in a chat with The Nation, said insurers have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that insurance cover is obtained by the Ministries, Parastatals and Agencies (MDAs) for the execution of both capital and recurrent expenditure of the budget.
He said he met with officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and discussed the role of insurance in building the economy. He cited the loan and facilities the Federal Government wants to give to youths as an example, noting that the programme should have an insurance content to avoid waste of resources.
He said: “I attended a meeting with the CBN where we discussed the roles that insurance can play in building the economy. It was a meeting on inclusion. It was noted that one of the cardinals of this regime is to empower the people and this cannot be without insurance. They want to give loans and facilities to youth, but what is the insurance content. There should be a kind of life insurance to back it up. They must always give allowance for failure. Do they want to keep bringing money when there is failure?
“What or how will government ensure the monies to be spent on infrastructure are secured? What is sustainability plan? What is the insurance content in the roads they want build. Is government thinking of mortgage and the insurance content among others?
“At the meeting, they said it did not occur to them. I told them that whatever they are packaging, they should have insurance to avoid waste that characterised government spending in the past. They should avoid situations where money is spent by government and huge amount are wasted because there is no insurance. “
The CBN, he said, is now ready to key into insurance because they now understand what they should do, stressing that all they need to do as insurers is to develop products that can meet these needs. “By so doing, we are creating wealth and people who are employed can insure,” he said.
The Executive Director, Leadway Assurance, Mrs. Adetola Adegbayi urged governments at all levels to protect the spending of budget provisions with insurance.
According to her, insurance enables the economy because it is a supporter, a protection and security for life and assets. She encouraged all MDAs that have been allocated budget to insure their budgets.
“All ministries like ministry of works, depending on where they are putting the money have to do their own insurance. Apart from the group life which is for centralised employees or key assets, each parastatal and agency has its own insurances to do. So, they should all insure.
“Insurance is a support and security mechanism. It is embedded within the economy or outside the people within that economy to make everything go smoothly. Also, insurance is only dominant when people begin to understand what insurance is about and carries the message. Lekki Gardens for example was found not to be insured. So, insurance can only be dominant when people that are meant to insure are insuring.
“I encourage people to see insurance as fulfilling selfish interest especially for those who are meant to insure compulsorily. When people see insurance as a selfish aspect by feeling, I need to insure my assets so that I can recover my assets through insurance if anything happens, it will be easy for them to set aside little premium needed for insurance,” she said.
Adegabyi, however, called on insurers to create more awareness and be accessible to the public.
