In order to ensure Nigerians buy genuine insurance cover and make insurance a household name, the Nigerian Insurers’ Association (NIA), said it would begin another phase of campaign on Oct.2.
The Director-General of NIA, Mrs Yetunde Ilori, disclosed the plan in a chat with newsmen on Monday in Lagos.
NIA was established in 1971 as an umbrella organisation for all insurance companies in Nigeria.
It offers its members a forum to speak to one another and speak with one voice to the Government, its agencies and other parties on matters affecting insurance business.
The NIA DG said the campaign tagged “Wetin You Carry” and the launch of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) *565*11# would begin on Oct.2, with a road show and would enlighten the populace more on insurance.
The campaign, according to NIA DG would begin in Lagos state and gradually extend to other states.
She said the campaign would also correct the discrepancies in the number of cars credited with insurance cover.
Ilori said, according to Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), about 12 million cars have insurance cover but data from the association reveals that only 2.54 million cars in the country have insurance cover.
“The number of cars with insurance coverage on our platform is far less than figures rolled out by NBS,” she said.
The NIA DG said the new campaign by NIA would detect the loopholes and make amendments, especially by exposing fake insurance cover.
“The “‘Wetin you carry” campaign that would kick off on Oct. 2, would enable any Nigerian with insurance policy to ascertain whether the policy is fake or not.
“The *565*11# can be used by any Nigerian anywhere and anytime with or without internet,” she said.
The NIA DG urged Nigerians to educate themselves more on insurance to support NIA in the fight against insurance fraudsters.
Ilori said the reason Nigerians fell into the hands of fake insurance sellers was because they failed to check the genuineness of insurance covers or policies.
“This is the main reason NIA emerged with *565*11#.
“As long as Nigerians are informed and refuse to patronise the fraudsters, their
businesses will collapse,” she said.
