Stakeholder Commends Digitization of Nigerian Insurance Industry
Mr. Casmir Azubuike, the Chief Executive Officer of Afriglobal Insurance Brokers Limited, has said the Nigerian insurance industry has been going through digital transformation, which is boosting its acceptance.
Azubuike, who made this assertion in a presentation titled ‘Changing the face of insurance practice’ added that the Nigerian insurance industry is evolving from analogue to a digitally-driven industry.
Azubuike said “Office processes are getting automated, manual registers and records are being phased out, policy and clients’ statistics are now being spooled electronically, policy documents are being generated and transmitted electronically.
“Latest is the development of mobile app, which makes it possible for you to buy insurance from the start to finish, including claims reporting and processing, on your mobile phone, from the comfort of your bedroom.”
He recalled that the insurance industry was in the past reputed for poverty, extreme conservatism, hungry- and haggard-looking workforce, and dishonesty, among others, stressing that the insurance industry of today has succeeded in reversing this negative image.
The CEO of Afriglobal Insurance Brokers Limited, pointed out that insurance firms’ offices and brokers now own or occupy magnificent structures located in high-brow areas, while employees are now well-remunerated, with attractive conditions of service.
He, however, lamented that the industry was still grappling with challenges which include poor product knowledge, laundering the poor image of the industry, achieving the desired penetration level, reversing the industry’s poor contribution to the GDP, addressing the low underwriting capacity issues, slow adoption of technology, poor leadership giving rise to financial mismanagement, and weak governance and regulatory bottlenecks.
According to him, other challenges were unavailability of reliable statistical data, lack of innovative products that addressed clients’ need, and unprofessional and unethical conducts by practitioners, among others.
He hinted that the face of insurance practice in Nigeria had been over the years characterised with poor image, and very poorly embraced by the public.
He noted that conscious efforts were being made by practitioners to launder the image.
“Much as some level of success is being recorded, the greater national challenge of corruption begotten by very poor standard of living is making it difficult for the efforts to yield as expected,” he added.
Azubuike stated that the very low per capital income has relegated insurance to the least in the priority list.
He highlighted that the recent spate of losses caused by the #EndSARS protest and the 21-storey building collapse at Ikoyi appeared to be awakening the consumers’ consciousness to insurance.
“Therefore, from public alienation, the industry is beginning to experience increasing acceptance to total invigoration,” he added.
