Managing Director, GNI
Bisi Bamishe
Great Nigeria Insurance Plc has called on Nigerians to adopt the culture of insurance now more than ever before. This advice is coming at the heels of the commencement of the rainy season as most of the road accidents happen during this season due to heavy downpour resulting in waterlogging, covered potholes, manholes and ditches. Not forgetting the rise in the figures of collapsed buildings especially those under construction, fire outrage and other eventualities which have destroyed properties worth millions of Naira in the past.
During a press briefing with insurance correspondents recently held at the Head office of Great Nigeria Insurance Plc located on 8, Omo-Osagie Street off Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, the company’s spokesperson, Ms. Oyinkansola Sobande said this is the time Nigerians need to consciously educate themselves on the benefits they are bound to derive in taking up an insurance policy. She said there are various insurance products that have been designed to protect lives and properties, noting that the most essential thing is for the insuring public to willingly open their minds in accepting the fact that insurance is a very important aspect of their lives.
In her words, “Nigerians have waited too long in recognizing and accepting the reality that without insurance, one is like building a House without a foundation and in no time, it could come crashing; and when that happens, you will have to start from the scratch again with even more funds than you initially expended”. She said that insurance gives you the promise of a safe and comfortable future. The earlier we disabuse our minds of the old notion that insurance does not work, the better it will be for all of us, she concluded.
Also commenting, the Head, Corporate Services of the underwriting firm, Mrs. Kofoworola Oshiga, attributed the low patronage of insurance in the country to the fact that Nigerians lack the basic insurance knowledge to fully appreciate the benefits inherent in it.
According to her, “there’s a willing suspension of acquiring basic knowledge about insurance products and how it works by majority of Nigerians which must be dispelled”. Experience has shown that an individual who took out one policy or the other in the past but with awry experience along the line was largely due to the inability of perusing their insurance contract or policy document as the case may be. Such an individual is capable of giving wrong information or misrepresentation of ideas to would-be customers out there who would have taken one policy or the other.
In the same vein, the Managing Director/CEO, Mrs. Cecilia O. Osipitan equally mentioned that low awareness remains one of the major reasons why a very large percentage of the Nigerian populace is not insuring as they ought to considering the population and the level of commercial activities in the country. She also emphasized the need to positively influence the perception of the insuring public to engender greater patronage as the negative notion that most people have against this very noble profession is adversely affecting the performance of the industry.
As part of the sensitization effort, GNI Plc uses two sponsored radio program titled “GNIONGO” on Traffic Radio 96.1FM every Friday between 12:15 pm and 12:30pm and “Oga Driver” on Star 101.5FM every Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 10:15am and 10:45am to extensively discuss the import of insurance with the different products and services available under the stable of the company.
Great Nigeria Insurance Plc remains resolute in delivering on all promises made.
