The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has identified the exclusion of pension and microinsurance drivers, a lack of technology, and ignorance as reasons for low insurance penetration in Nigeria.
The President of NCRIB, Ekeoma Ezeibe, raised these concerns on Tuesday at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, during the 2026 Inaugural Annual Insurance Week.
She stated that insurance penetration in other countries, including South Africa and Kenya, was far higher than in Nigeria.
According to her, while Nigeriaโs insurance penetration is below one per cent, South Africaโs is nearly 12 per cent, and Kenyaโs is above seven per cent.
โBut to be realistic, looking at South Africa and Kenya vis-a-vis their insurance markets and the drivers of their insurance penetration, you discover they are mostly pensions and micro insurance.
โBut in Nigeria, pension, which used to be part of insurance in Nigeria, is now excised with the introduction of the Pension Reforms Act and now domiciled with the National Pension Commission.
โIf you check how many trillions that are domiciled in pension funds with PenCom, you can imagine what will happen if it is brought into the insurance net in Nigeria.
Mrs Ezeibe noted that if pension funds were brought into the Nigerian insurance net, insurance penetration would have shot up, just like in the South African and Kenyan markets.
She said, โAnother driver in other countries has micro insurance. Yes, Nigeria hasnโt paid attention to micro insurance until recently.
โAs a result, the National Insurance Commission, which is our regulator, has now started licensing micro insurance companies so they can take care of those not financially included in the insurance safety net.
โThe micro insurance companies have been licensed to underwrite businesses from the low-income generators like the artisans, farmers, food vendors, petty traders and others.
โWhen you congregate all these people into the insurance safety net, you can then appreciate that little drops of water can really make a mighty ocean.
โAnother reason for low insurance penetration is that Nigeria has not fully employed technology, which is now globally accepted due to its ease of doing business, speed and efficiency characteristics.โ
While identifying ignorance as another reason for the low insurance penetration challenge, Mrs Ezeibe argued that ignorance does not necessarily stem from poverty, saying that even certain rich individuals could be largely ignorant.
โYou hear people say God is their protector. Yes, God does protect. But the same God has given us intelligence for us to apply it towards taking care of ourselves. This is why awareness creation on insurance is very important,โ she added.
The Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Prof. Ugochukwu Anyaehie, praised the faculty for attracting stakeholders in the insurance industry, saying the move would further improve the institutionโs growth.
The vice-chancellor, represented by Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, Prof. Alex Asigbo, expressed the universityโs willingness to partner with the organisation, including the provision of institutional support.
Earlier, the programme coordinator, insurance programme, at the department of banking and finance, faculty of management sciences, Prof. Victor Okonkwo, described the theme, โInsurance for All: Driving Inclusion, Innovation, and Trust,โ as both a timely reflection of market demands and an urgent blueprint for national development.
โOur theme for this week is also entirely synchronised with our Insurance programme vision: to advance knowledge-driven, trust-based and technology-enabled risk management solutions.
โ These solutions will enhance financial security and sustainable economic development across Nigeria and the continent,โ he said.
(NAN)
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