Insurance agents harp on secure future for youths

Insurance agents across all underwriting companies in Nigeria have urged parents to take appropriate insurance policies that can help to secure their children’s future.

Citing the ongoing difficult situation of the economy, the insurance sector stakeholders said it would be difficult for some parents to send their children to tertiary institutions if no proper arrangements were made.

While urging parents to plan their children’s education when young, especially with Nigeria’s reforms in policy underwriting, they admitted that there is the need for a renewed campaign for insurance to be extended to schools and other institutions, especially at the grassroots.

The President of the Association of Registered Insurance Agents of Nigeria (ARIAN), Ademola Ifagbayi, while speaking to The Guardian on the sidelines of the 2019 Insurance Awareness Fitness Walk campaign in Lagos, said strong agency system in insurance remained the panacea for deepening penetration.

Leading some insurance agents and other stakeholders during the walk, tagged: “Secure child education/secure the future/save Nigeria”, from Yaba to Oyingbo market in Lagos, the participants shared fliers and educated people on how to secure their lives and properties with insurance.

He expressed the hope that the interaction with the people in the area, who came from different parts of the state to transact business, would help to transmit the message to the grassroots where they reside.

According to him, since change is the only constant thing in life and now technology is taking over business dealings across the world, insurance agents in the country must also embrace this change.

Stating that insurance agents are the middlemen between policyholders and insurance companies, he urged his colleagues to embrace ICT platforms in the sale of insurance products and services for better and faster service delivery to policyholders across the country.

He also noted that ARIAN is working with the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) to blacklist any agent who engages in fraudulent practices, stressing that the bodies are working to ensure that such individuals do not get employment in the industry.

A policyholder at the area, Segun Adeyemi, who spoke with The Guardian, want insurance agents to take advantage of the social media platforms to reach out to the uninsured in the country.

Adeyemi stressed that technology would help make insurance agents more relevant, while increasing yearly premium income of the industry as well as improved service delivery.

While urging agents to assist their respective companies initiate easy ways of paying premium and settling claims, he stated that digital technology has helped to transformed business practices.

He also implored agents to esteem good service delivery, stressing that one dissatisfied customer could make an organisation lose more than 20 others who would have bought a policy.