Some potential insurance policy buyers in Anambra have described the process of claiming insurance benefits from companies after disasters as cumbersome, a major reason insurance policy is unattractive in the area, even in Nigeria as a whole.
The potential buyers made the remarks in separate interviews while reacting to a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) survey on why Nigerians shun insurance policy.
They noted that the difficulties associated with insurance company policies are the major reasons many Nigerians have no confidence in them.
An Awka resident, Mr. Samuel Chijioke, decried the “cumbersome” processes and documentation insurance companies make their enrollees pass through in the event of a disaster such as vehicle accident or fire, describing them as very discouraging.
According to him, insurance policies in Nigeria become unnecessarily cumbersome when one needs to be compensated.
“The requirements process is crazy as they will continue to play delayed tactics, frustrate you and make one lose interest in claiming benefits in the process.
“They will want to frustrate you so that you can leave your benefits with them,” he said.
Mr. Emeka Okeke, a businessman, said that Nigerians are not benefiting from insurance policies because many do not know much about them.
“Many Nigerians lack knowledge about their activities, they don’t even know that insurance policies exist in Nigeria; they (insurance companies) need to step up their awareness campaign.
“Nigerians need to be convinced, seeing those involved in disaster benefiting from them; these will make many want to register with them,” he said.
Mr. Okechukwu Obeta, also an Awka resident and a journalist with The Leadership newspaper, said that he does not take insurance policy because he has no trust in the implementation processes, adding that as run here, there is no transparency in the processes as obtained in the western world.
According to him, there is too much corruption in Nigeria to sustain a business based entirely on the trust and confidence of the customer.
“I will not for now patronise the process because I view it as a way of encouraging mediocrity,” he said.
Mr. Christian Beluchukwu, a trader who is resident in Awka described insurance policy as strange to the people, pointing out that it requires serious advocacy before the majority of the people could key into the business.
Beluchukwu said that he sees the business as a business of people in lack of gainful employment, expressing fear of abandonment or stories of woes by victims of soured insurance policies .
For Mr. Ekene Ukoh, a rice farmer, he has no need and says he does not need any insurance policy for his Agric business.
“I do not believe I need an insurance policy. If I have such money, I will invest it in my rice farm,” he said.
Mr. Jude Nwankwo, Programme Manager, Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), Anambra State, told NAN that the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), in the state, enlightened farmers on insurance policies documentation and claims settlement procedure.
Nwankwo said that some cooperative farmers in the state keyed into the insurance policy to avoid losses and protect farm produce.
“We continue to encourage farmers in the state to insure their crops against disasters like fire outbreak, lightning, windstorm, flood, droughts, pests and other diseases that attack crops,” he said.
In his views, Mr. Tope Daramola, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) told NAN that many Nigerians are shying away from taking insurance policies due to ignorance, religious beliefs, poverty and economic recession.
Daramola said: “The fact is when you do not know about something, you are equally ignorant of the benefits embedded in it.
“Also, many Nigerians believe that it is only God that protects and they hold on to the ‘God forbid and it cannot happen to me syndrome’ whereas it is the same people who brought religion to us that brought insurance.
“Then poverty and economic hardship is a factor where insurance is not in the budget of many Nigerians. They tell you they have not eaten and you are asking them to get insurance. These are the issues,” he said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Daramola said insurance is important describing it as the last hope of the common man in advanced countries, where it is all about insurance from cradle to growth.
He said that insurance covers every aspect of human risks one could think of so that “affliction would not arise a second time”.
“Coming to Nigeria, many people do not understand that the world is full of risks and life also happens either negatively or positively, regardless of your religious beliefs.
“And when life happens, you need insurance for succour and to cushion the challenges faced either in the event of death, destruction of property due to accident, fire or flood disaster.
“We have insurance brokers operating all over the country, including Anambra and they help to break down the concepts of insurance and its benefits in the language every Nigerian will understand.
“On our part we will continue to intensify public sensitisation to make Nigerians aware of insurance and its many benefits,” he added.
