…As NAICOM warns of fake online recruitment
Uche Usim, Abuja
The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has revealed that the nation’s insurance sector recorded a gross written premium of N235 billion between January and September of 2017.
This was as the commission warned Nigerians to be wary of the antics of online fraudsters who opened a fake recruitment portal in its name with the sole aim of swindling unsuspecting members of the public.
NAICOM said it was not recruiting at the moment but that whenever vacancies come up, they would be advertised in the media for qualified Nigerians to apply.
Meanwhile, industry stakeholders have described the N235 billion premium for last year as a good development judging from the rough economic climate of 2017. The figure was, however, lower than N325 billion that was recorded in 2016.
According to figures obtained from the commission, insurance contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in terms of penetration stands at 0.48 per cent.
The figures further showed that most of the businesses done in the industry were by insurance brokers, with 75 per cent of the transactions coming from corporate clients. At a workshop for insurance journalists held in Benin at the weekend, the Deputy Commissioner for Insurance, Thomas Sunday, explained that NAICOM’s main objective was to expand the insurance market.
He said that existing insurance companies in Nigeria were in good health, even as he assured that the commission would always intervene whenever it noticed any operational challenge. “The law gives us power to ask insurance companies to recapitalise when they have solvency issues. Insolvency can be temporary. Once they make up the gaps, they’re back to business. We also make some interventions. There are some we are attending to.