Bisi Bamishe
Consolidated Hallmark Insurance(CHI) Plc has renewed the Group Personal Accident Insurance cover worth N24 million Sum Assured for insurance journalists in the country.
This, according to the company, is part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project, to ensure that journalists who are exposed to danger and hazard in the discharge of their civic duties are adequately protected. The Group Personal Accident Insurance covers death, permanent disability and medical expenses.
The policy, now in its 9th years, has been running since 2012, and is renewed annually by the company. The cover, was renewed in October, 2020 and it is due to expire in September 2021.
The policy cover all members of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents(NAIPCO) across the country while the company has promised to continue to renew the coverage for the journalists every year.
Reacting to this development, the group managing director/CEO, CHI, Mr. Eddie Efekoha, said, this gesture is to show the kind of values and respect his insurance firm has for journalism, believing, journalists, who the shaper of the society, and by extension, the insurance industry, must be well taking care of.
Journalism, he said, is a risky profession, hence, the need to adequately provide insurance for those covering the insurance industry.
In the case of the death of any of the concerned journalists, he said, the family of the deceased is entitled to N1 million death benefits. “A journalist who suffers permanent disability in the discharge of his duties will also be entitled to N1 million. The cover provides for medical expenses to the tune of N200,000 per journalist in the case of an accident,” he pointed out.
Applauding the initiative, the chairman, NAIPCO, Mr. Chuks Udo Okonta, said, this is a rare gesture from CHI, as part of its CSR initiative aimed at impacting lives of IRS Immediate community.
He, on behalf of all members of the association, thanked the company as well as its GMD, Mr. Eddie Efekoha, for recognising the pivotal roles journalists are playing in the society and indeed insurance industry, promising that, this will serve as moral boosters for his members to continue to discharge their duties ethically and professionally with exhibiting any fear or intimidation.
He was particularly happy for the fact that, in 2013, Mrs. Bimbo Oyetunde a staffer of Radio Nigeria received medical bill compensation from CHI after she was involved in a ghastly motor accident alongside other members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) on their return from Abuja after an official assignment where three people died.
To him, ” Your company has lived up to expectation in the past when one of our members benefited from this policy and that, we are grateful for. Although, we don’t pray for hazard to happen, but we are relaxed that if the unexpected happens, CHI is always there for us.”
