News
Stakeholder Applauds 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 said this in a presentation titled ‘Changing the face of insurance practice’.
He said, “The Nigerian insurance industry is evolving from analogue to a digitally-driven industry.
“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.”
According to him, the insurance industry was in the past reputed for poverty, extreme conservatism, hungry- and haggard-looking workforce, and dishonesty, among others.
“The insurance industry of today has succeeded in reversing this negative image,” Azubuike said.
According to him, 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, noted that the industry was still grappling with challenges.
According to him, the challenges 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.
He said 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 said the face of insurance practice in Nigeria had been over the years characterised with poor image, and very poorly embraced by the public.
However, he added, conscious efforts were being made by practitioners to launder the image.
“Much as some level of success are being recorded, the greater national challenges of corruption begotten by very poor standard of living is making it difficult for the efforts to yield as expected,” he said.
According to him, the very low per capital income has relegated insurance to the least in the priority list.
Azubuike said 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 said.
Renaissance Africa Energy has completed the “acquisition of the entire (100%)” equity holding in Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).
This is according to a statement on Thursday by the spokesman of Renaissance Africa Energy Holdings Tony Okonedo who said the acquisition was completed on the same day.
“This follows the signing of a sale and purchase agreement with Shell in January 2024, and obtaining all regulatory approvals required for the transaction. Going forward, SPDC will be renamed as ‘Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited,” the statement added.
“We are extremely proud to have completed this strategic acquisition. The Renaissance vision is to be ‘Africa’s leading oil and gas company, enabling energy security and industrialisation in a sustainable manner.’
We and our shareholder companies are therefore pleased that the Federal Government has given the green light for this milestone acquisition in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act,” said Tony Attah, managing director/CEO of Renaissance.
He added: “We extend our appreciation to the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources, the CEO of the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), and the GCEO of Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for their foresight and belief, paving the way for the rapid development of Nigeria’s vast oil and gas resources as a strategic accelerator for the country’s industrial development”.
Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) said it has commenced moves to ensure that its website was linked to the portals of institutions to enable ease of verification.
Mustapha Iyal, executive director, Operations of NELFUND, made this known during a sensitisation programme at the University of Ilorin for higher institutions in Kwara state recently.
Sharing more insight on the update, Iyal said: “We observed that one of the problems we are having is the problem of verification. So what NELFUND is trying to do is that we want to engage the institutions directly by linking the NELFUND activities on the institutional portals so by doing that when a student is trying to do registration in school, they can select whether they want to pay via NELFUND, cash or other means.
“So if the student opts to pay with NELFUND, they will fill in the application with their details which are already on the institutional portals so they don’t have to go to the NELFUND portal. That is the kind of portal we are looking at. We want to create a synergy.”
Speaking further on complaints raised by students of beneficiary institutions in Kwara state, the NELFUND official said the organisation has commenced work on issues raised.
He said: “On the issues raised by the students, we are working on ways to make the whole process seamless. We have already started working on the issues. We work 24 hours and we are always there for the student.”
Also speaking, Umar Farouk, a representative of the National Association of Nigerian Students on the NELFUND board, lauded the move by the administration of President Bola Tinubu to establish the student loan initiative.
According to Farouk, the move will further encourage indigent students to have access to higher education.
He stated: “One of the campaign promises of the President is the student loan and I am happy to say that the student loan fund is here to stay. Nigerians can now understand that children of nobodies can now access higher education easily. With access to student loan, everyone now has the ease to go to school.”
The implementation of the student loan scheme is President Bola Tinubu’s flagship project in the education sector.
Operators in the insurance sector have been advised to have a rethink on their traditional approaches to business and embrace change with agility and the wave of digital transformation in modern business. Doing so, he stated, will enable them remain relevant and competitive in the business world.
The Chairman, Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA), Mr Kunle Ahmed, gave the advice at the 2025 Insurance Chief Executives’ retreat organised by the insurers in Lagos.
Speaking on the relevance of the theme of the year’s retreat, “Digital Disruption and Social Innovation: Reshaping Our Traditional Models,” Ahmed said, “As we discuss digital disruption, I urge you to consider the following questions: how can we leverage technology to better understand and serve our customers, how can we harness the power of data to drive decision-making and innovation, most importantly, how can we create a seamless and integrated digital experience that not only meets but exceeds customer expectations?”
He said equally important was the role of social innovation in reshaping the insurance industry, adding that as insurers, operators have responsibility to address the evolving needs of their diverse communities and ensure that their services were inclusive, accessible, and beneficial to all.
“Social innovation challenges us to think beyond profit margins and focus on creating positive social impact. Inclusive insurance, for instance, aims to provide financial protection to underserved and vulnerable populations. By developing products that cater to the unique needs of these communities, we can foster financial inclusion and resilience. Similarly, sustainable insurance practices can help mitigate the impacts of climate change and promote environmental stewardship,” he said.
He urged the insurers that as they explore the concept of social innovation, they should reflect on how to design insurance products that were not only profitable but also socially impactful.
He further said they should think about how to engage with stakeholders to drive collective action towards sustainability as well as how to measure and communicate the social and environmental benefits of their initiatives.
Ahmed told the insurers that the journey of digital disruption and social innovation was not one that they could embark on alone, adding that it required collaboration, partnership, and a shared vision for the future.
He said as industry leaders, they must work together to foster a culture of innovation, openness, and continuous learning.
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