Insurance policyholders in the country who suffered insured risks on their policies received a whopping N1.9 trillion as compensation from underwriting firms in the country, LEADERSHIP can now reveal.
The amount paid covered compensation on damaged assets and life insurance for lost lives in the last eight years, precisely, between 2014 and 2022 financial years.
The breakdown of data sourced by LEADERSHIP at the weekend, shows that the insurance industry paid N33 billion life claims and N65.5 billion as non-life claims, translating to a cumulative N99billion claims paid in 2014.
In 2015, policyholders got N111.1 million of which N45.1 billion was life Claims and N66 billion as non-life claims while in 2016, N67.2 million was paid on life claims and N78.6 billion paid on non-life claims, making a cumulative N145.8 billion.
By 2017 financial year, the industry had a cumulative N186.5billion claims paid, translating to N72.5 million life claims and N114 billion as non-life compensation, even as N252.1 billion claims was paid in 2018, N225.1 billion in 2019 and N247.3 billion in 2020.
In 2021, insurance companies compensated insured Nigerians to the tune of N323.8 billion, the highest insurers have paid so far, while N318.2billion was paid to policyholders who suffered Insured risks in the 2022 financial year.
Investigation shows that the benefiting claimants comprise of public and private companies, government at federal, states and local levels as well as individuals who have paid premium to insure their respective risks before they happened.
The beneficiaries of the claims had insured their buildings, office premises, vehicles, lives, among other assets against mishap and were duly paid for when the risk occurred.
The continuous annual increase in claims paid in those years , according to findings, was as a result of improved awareness among the insured to always lodge claims when risk occurs as well as the consistent rise in asset replacement value that has continued to erode the large portion of insurance premium income.
Speaking at the 2023 Retreat For Insurance Journalists themed ‘Improving Stakeholders Perception 2023 and Beyond,’ in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State at the weekend, assistant director, Corporate Strategy and Special Duties at the National Insurance Commission(NAICOM), Dr. Usman Jankara, said, insurance sub sector has improved over time in the payment of claims, even though, there are rooms for improvement, having recorded annual increase from 2014 till now except for last year when the figure dropped from that of 2021.
Saying that life and non-life premiums are both on a growth trajectory, he added that insurance penetration is now at 0.4 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and an increase in insurance density to 1.5 per cent.
The gross premium of the insurance industry, he added, equally grew from N282.9 billion in 2015 to N726.2 billion in 2022, a modest 15 per cent annual growth over this period.
He also noted that, the total assets of the insurance industry equally rose from N917 billion to over 2.3 trillion within the same period.
Earlier, the commissioner for Insurance/CEO, NAICOM, Mr. Sunday Thomas, while promising policyholders that claims will be paid on genuine insurance policies, charged aggrieved claimants to approach NAICOM for redress if their insurers fail to pay genuine claims.
He disclosed that the regulatory body is taking heavy sanctions on insurers fond of declining genuine claims, saying NAICOM will continue to ensure that underwriters are performing their civic responsibilities of paying claims as and when due.