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The Commissioner for Insurance/CEO of, the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, Mr. Sunday Thomas, has said that artificial intelligence (AI) is key to the future of the insurance business in Nigeria.
In a keynote address during the 8th BusinessToday annual conference & exhibition with the theme, “The World of AI: How Insurance and Pension Sectors Can Explore Opportunities for Market Penetration”, in Lagos, Thomas, urged insurance operators to increase adoption in this area as it gives better productivity and enhanced profitability, while ensuring quick service delivery and claims payment to insurance consumers.
Represented by the Deputy Director, Lagos Office of NAICOM, Ajibola Olabisi Bankole, he said that technology adoption is part of the 10-year roadmap of the insurance industry.
"NAICOM, as a regulator, will continue to evolve policies that will engender the growth of the industry, increase penetration and contribute to the nation’s GDP," he said.
The conference chairman, who is also the Chairman of NEM Insurance Plc, Mr. Tope Smart, in his Goodwill message noted the level of insurance penetration in Nigeria when benchmarked with the global penetration, saying that a lot of factors were responsible for the increase in penetration level.
He said lack of or low enforcement is affecting the adoption of compulsory insurance even as he said that the industry is working assiduously with partner agencies responsible for enforcement to increase insurance adoption.
“It is quite saddening that out of a population of 200 million, only about three million people are insured. Lack of enforcement is a challenge but the industry is working round the clock to increase enforcement through the regulatory and enforcement bodies.
“Consumers’ apathy due to bad experience they had in the past is affecting policy renewals but I can assure Nigerians that there are various complaint avenues for people to lodge complaints. If your legitimate claims are not settled, you can approach the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and NAICOM; if your complaints are genuine, they will be resolved,” he assured.
The President, of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Mr. Edwin Igbiti, said the growing insurance industry will require that the nation’s economy be derisked while seeking partnerships with government and other stakeholders to deepen insurance penetration.
He submitted that AI will increase insurance premium growth, enhance service delivery and ensure that the insurance sector contributes more to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product(GDP).
