Dr Chinyere Almona, Director General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) have charged insurance and pension operators to provide necessary and attractive incentives that would boost patronage of the micro insurance and micro pension plans.
Almona, also Chief Executive Officerof the chamber made the call while delivering a paper at the 7th Annual Conference of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE).
The theme of the conference was : Onboarding MSMEs into Micro Insurance and Pension Space in Nigeria.
She noted that operators in the insurance and pension industries must design products that would encourage and attract the informal sector market to embrace the micro insurance and micro pension plan.
“Although the insurance and pension sectors have been doing a lot in driving the financial inclusion initiative of the Federal Government.
“There is need to incentivise and encourage those in the informal sector, the Nigerian Nano, Micro, Small and Medium and Enterprises ( NMSMEs ) operators to embrace micro insurance and micro pension plan,” she said.
According to her, insurance underwriters and pension administrators must take advantage of the huge opportunities in the NMSME sector due to the size of the available workforce.
The LCCI DG mentioned opportunities in the NMSME’s sector as ; large workforce and willing adult population, expanding distribution channels, favourable regulatory environment, mature financial services sector and revolution in information technology and digital innovations.
Almona said, the total number of employment by MSMEs stood at 61.9 million, representing 87.9 per cent of the total workforce in the country.
She added that the number of employment generated by the informal sector was 16 million while the formal sector generated 7.5 million in 2020.
Almona charged operators in both sectors to invest in enabling technology to increase awareness and enlightenment on the benefits of micro insurance and micro pension.
The LCCI DG listed the benefits of such awareness to include ; safety net at retirement, alignment with the current social empowerment programmes, minimal old-age poverty and Improvement in the standard of living for the elderly, among others.
She charged the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to provide necessary regulatory framework that supports MSMEs.
“With regulatory support, Nigeria is well placed to achieve meaningful micro-pension coverage rapidly as well as enhance insurance penetration.
“The ratio of insurance assets to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has remained stagnant at 1 per cent, while microinsurance is at a very early but growing phase.
“The percentage ratio of pension assets to GDP remains low, while the total pension contribution remitted by the public sector is slightly higher than that of the private sector, which justifies the low penetration of pension in the private sector of the economy, ” she said.
In her Keynote address, the Director-General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar said, on-boarding SMEs into the micro pension scheme is one of the strategies the pension industry has been contributing to the financial inclusion initiative of the Federal Government
Dahiru-Umar represented by the Head, South West Office of PenCom, Dr Tunde Alayande said the micro pension plan was designed for those in the informal sector including the SMEs.
She explained that PenCom In collaboration with the Pension Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), has come up with lots of initiatives for the SMEs for the benefit of the industry.
In his goodwill message, Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Mr Segun Omosehin commended NAIPE for organising a conference which was not only significant to the insurance industry but to the entire finance industry.
” NAIPE is not only projecting the image of the industry but making people to understand what we do, what we represent and how he can impact our economy,” Omosehin said.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Chairman of NAIPE, Mrs Nkechi Naeche – Esezobor said the theme of the conference was important because NMSME’s as driver and engine of growth of the Nigerian economy.
Naeche – Esezobor urged micro insurance and micro pension operators to see SMEs as an assets to their growth by ensuring that they are properly captured .
