Experts at a two-day All-Inclusive Mass Media Seminar on insurance have warned that failure by governments, businesses and individuals to adequately insure their assets could deepen Nigeria’s economic vulnerabilities and leave taxpayers to shoulder huge reconstruction and recovery costs when disasters occur.
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Governments at all levels have been urged to insure public properties and critical infrastructure to prevent taxpayers from bearing the financial consequences whenever disasters, accidents or other unforeseen events destroy assets built with public funds.
The call was made by insurance experts and other stakeholders at a two-day All-Inclusive Mass Media Seminar organised by the Universe of Insurance and Journalism in Lagos, with the theme, “Risk Everywhere, in Everything.”
Experts views
The experts said insurance should no longer be viewed merely as an optional financial product but as an essential instrument for protecting public and private investments, strengthening economic resilience and ensuring continuity whenever risks materialise.
They warned that failure to adequately insure government properties, businesses, households and critical infrastructure could expose the country to huge financial losses and worsen pressure on public finances.
Chairman of the Board of Directors, SanlamAllianz Life Insurance Nigeria, Dr Femi Oyetunji, said public assets represented enormous investments made with taxpayers’ money and should therefore be adequately protected against identifiable risks.
Oyetunji said public buildings, schools, hospitals, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure were exposed to several risks, including fire, flooding, accidents, vandalism, natural disasters and other unforeseen incidents.
He said the consequences of leaving such assets uninsured could extend beyond the immediate loss, as the government would have to find fresh funds to rebuild or replace damaged infrastructure.
“Insurance should be regarded as a strategic risk-transfer mechanism rather than simply an expenditure,” Oyetunji said.
He explained that where public assets were adequately insured, the government could transfer part of the financial consequences of major losses to the insurance system, thereby reducing pressure on public funds.
According to him, uninsured losses could force governments to divert funds originally earmarked for education, healthcare, security, social services and other developmental programmes into emergency reconstruction.
He therefore urged governments to properly value their assets, identify the risks associated with them and obtain appropriate insurance protection.
Oyetunji also called for stronger collaboration between governments and insurance companies to develop products capable of addressing the peculiar risks associated with public infrastructure.
He said adequate insurance protection would not only reduce the financial impact of disasters but also improve the government’s ability to maintain essential services after major incidents.
Nigeria’s low insurance penetration
Another major concern raised at the seminar was Nigeria’s persistently low insurance penetration.
Dr Omogbai Omo-Eboh, who presented a paper titled “Legal Integrative Framework for a National Insurance Policy: How to Make Insurance Work for Individuals, Government and the Economy,” said the country’s insurance penetration remained below one per cent.
He warned that the situation leaves millions of Nigerians, businesses and government institutions exposed to financial shocks that could otherwise be transferred through insurance.
Omo-Eboh said Nigerians were confronted daily with risks ranging from road accidents, fire outbreaks, flooding and illness to mortality, crop failure, business interruption and other economic disruptions.
He identified public distrust, delayed or disputed claims, weak enforcement of compulsory insurance laws, complicated policy language, inadequate access for low-income and informal businesses, poverty and insufficient data among factors contributing to low insurance penetration.
He said the challenge was therefore not simply about persuading Nigerians to buy insurance but about creating an environment in which people understood insurance, trusted insurers and could easily access products that met their needs.
“Regulation alone will not create an insurance culture,” Omo-Eboh said, stressing that enforcement must go hand in hand with public education, simple policy documentation, relevant products and prompt settlement of genuine claims.
He said the Nigeria Insurance Industry Reform Act 2025 provided an opportunity to strengthen the industry and improve protection for policyholders.
Stronger capital requirements
The legal expert noted that the reform framework provides for stronger capital requirements, broader compulsory insurance provisions and enhanced policyholder protection.
Omo-Eboh advocated a system in which insurance compliance was integrated into government regulatory and administrative processes.
He called for compulsory insurance requirements to be linked to government licences, permits, registration and procurement processes where appropriate.
He also proposed real-time verification of third-party motor insurance during vehicle licence renewal.
Similarly, he called for relevant insurance requirements to be incorporated into building approvals, industrial licences and other government services where the associated risks justify compulsory coverage.
Need to make insurance compliance part of govt processes
According to him, making insurance compliance part of government processes would help close some of the gaps that have allowed compulsory insurance requirements to exist on paper without adequate enforcement.
He, however, cautioned that enforcement must be accompanied by greater public confidence.
“People will embrace insurance when they can see evidence that insurers respond when risks occur,” he said.
He therefore called for simpler policy language, accessible products and prompt payment of legitimate claims.
The role of the media
The seminar also examined the role of the media in addressing the country’s insurance protection gap.
Professor Adepoju Tejumaiye of the University of Lagos said journalists had an important responsibility to improve public understanding of insurance and influence the quality of public discourse around risk management.
He urged journalists to report insurance not only when companies launched products or published financial results but also when Nigerians suffered the consequences of uninsured risks.
Tejumaiye said climate-related disasters, floods, building collapses, road crashes and health emergencies provided opportunities for journalists to explain the role insurance could play in protecting affected individuals and communities.
He urged journalists to make insurance reporting more understandable to ordinary Nigerians.
“The media has a critical role to play in shaping public knowledge and perception of insurance,” he said.
Journalists should simplify technical insurance terminology
According to him, journalists should simplify technical insurance terminology so that members of the public could understand how policies work, what they cover and the circumstances that may affect claims.
He also urged reporters to distinguish between being insured and being adequately insured, noting that the mere existence of a policy did not necessarily mean that all financial consequences of a disaster would be covered.
Need to investigate healthcare insurance impact on patients
Dr Augustine Aipoh, President of the Healthcare Providers Association of Nigeria, similarly called on journalists to move beyond reporting healthcare policy announcements and investigate their actual impact on patients.
Aipoh said the real test of health insurance should not merely be the number of people enrolled in a scheme but whether those people could access the healthcare services they were promised.
“The real test of health insurance is access to the services promised, not simply enrolment,” Aipoh said.
He urged journalists to follow the patient journey from enrolment and financing through accreditation, treatment, claims processing and eventual outcomes.
According to him, such reporting would help expose gaps between policy declarations and actual healthcare delivery.
Aipoh also urged the media to translate complex insurance and healthcare terminology into language that ordinary Nigerians could understand.
Also speaking, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of an insurance brokerage firm, Chief Raymond Akalonu, described Nigeria’s low insurance penetration as a national resilience challenge rather than a problem affecting only the insurance industry.
There are risks in every sector of the economy
He said risk existed in virtually every sector of the Nigerian economy, including agriculture, maritime and transportation, healthcare, education, property and construction, manufacturing, oil and gas, energy, aviation, financial services, technology, retail and small businesses.
Akalonu said insurance provided a mechanism through which the financial consequences of risks could be distributed across an organised pool of capital.
“Insurance is economic infrastructure,” he said, arguing that the strength of an economy should also be measured by how well individuals, businesses and public institutions were protected when risks materialised.
He explained that when a major risk occurred in a well-insured economy, the financial burden could be substantially transferred through the insurance system.
But in a poorly insured economy, he said, the burden remained largely with individuals, families, businesses and communities and eventually placed additional pressure on the government.
Akalonu also drew attention to the often-overlooked issue of business interruption.
He said many businesses focused primarily on insuring physical assets such as buildings, machinery and equipment but failed to consider the loss of income that followed a major incident.
According to him, a company whose premises were destroyed by fire might eventually rebuild its facility and replace equipment but could still lose revenue for several months while continuing to pay rent, salaries, loan interest, security costs and other fixed expenses.
Appropriate business interruption protection as part of overall risk-management plans
He therefore urged businesses to consider appropriate business interruption protection as part of their overall risk-management plans.
Akalonu also highlighted the importance of household insurance, particularly for families that depended heavily on one breadwinner.
He said the death or serious injury of a breadwinner could disrupt a family’s financial plans, including children’s education, housing and other essential commitments.
“Wealth creation without wealth protection is an incomplete financial plan,” he said.
The future of insurance in a digital economy
Mr Jackson Ikiebe, an IT expert with about 29 years of industry experience, spoke on “AI, Blockchain and Beyond: The Future of Insurance in Nigeria and the Digital Economy.”
Ikiebe recalled that insurance transactions had historically been associated with lengthy paperwork, physical files, manual processing and complex policy documents.
He said the traditional approach had contributed to the perception among some members of the public that insurance was complicated and difficult to understand.
“We have moved from a period of terminals, typists, physical signatures and very lengthy policy documents to an era where technology can make insurance faster and simpler,” Ikiebe said.
According to him, digital platforms now provide an opportunity to simplify the process and make insurance products more accessible to consumers.
He said mobile technology, digital payments, electronic documentation and identity-verification systems could enable insurers to provide faster and more convenient services.
Ikiebe said Nigeria’s young and increasingly connected population was becoming accustomed to completing transactions digitally and expected financial services, including insurance, to provide similar levels of convenience.
He therefore urged insurers to develop products that consumers could understand, purchase and access through digital platforms without unnecessary delays.
On artificial intelligence, he said the technology could assist insurers in underwriting, risk assessment, pricing, claims management, fraud detection and customer service.