Minister seeks involvement of ICT to drive insurance growth

Says 1.5 million Nigerians hold policies

The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, has called for the application of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions to grow the potential of the Nigerian insurance industry, which he said has not been fully harnessed.

Shittu made the call in Lagos, at the e-Insurance Conference, organised by Pinet Informatics Limited, with the theme: Driving Insurance Penetration with ICT.

E-insurance can be broadly defined as the application of Internet and related information technologies (IT) to the production and distribution of insurance services. In a narrower sense, it can be defined as the provision of an insurance cover whereby an insurance policy is solicited, offered, negotiated and contracted online.

The Minister, while delivering the keynote address, noted that the nation’s insurance sector, which provides support to the financial institutions has not been fully explored.

He said: “the insurance sector despite being a major driver of business growth that provides a critical support system to the financial market has not fared well given the current size of the Nigerian economy and population.

“Information available to me indicates that there are less than 1.5 million insurance policyholders, representing a paltry 0.9 per cent of a population of well over 170 million citizens. Similarly, the gross premium of the sector is said to be less than N500 billion, implying that the sector contributes less than one per cent to national GDP.”

Shittu expressed confidence in the performance of the ICT sector as the fourth pillar of the Nigerian economy, and a sector that recorded positive growth in 2016 in spite of the recession.

He said ICT tools could be utilised to develop innovative solutions to improve insurance practice, increase product development and expand market activities in the insurance sector.

The minister suggested some processes to include improved operational efficiency (i.e. smooth communication between clients and company officials), office automation and optimisation, digital marketing and online marketplace for assessment and purchase of insurance packages.

He noted that in other climes, e-Insurance has already been fully adopted and various insurance products like health, home and life can be obtained through online insurance portals, which are programmed to tailor unique insurance packages for distinctive individual requirements of prospective customers.

He promised that government will continue to drive policies that will propel Nigeria to attain the status of a knowledge-based nation, adding that his Ministry will seek to grow the ICT sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) by expanding broadband infrastructure to improve quality of service.

He said there will also be continuous capacity building to create a smart public sector workforce.