L-R Council member, Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Mrs. Ekeoma Ezeibe , Executive Secretary, NCRIB; Fatai Adegbenro, Deputy President, NCRIB; Dr. Mrs Bola Onigbogi, new President, NCRIB; Shola Tinubu, President, National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents; Omobola Tolu-Kushimo and council member, NCRIB; Tunde Oguntade at the maiden press briefing addressed by the new NCRIB president in Lagos.
The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has initiated a 10-year strategic plan to further develop the broking arm of the Nigerian insurance industry and consolidate on the gains of the past and present.
Mr. Shola Tinubu, the 19thPresident of NCRIB, said the Plan will roll-over with two successive presidencies of the Council and lead to autonomy as part of the 8-point agenda of his administration. He also emphasized the importance of self-regulation by brokers to avoid running foul of the law guiding the conduct of their business.
“I want to champion self-regulation by brokers. This implies our members meeting their obligations in-house before assessment by regulators. That would strengthen our level of professionalism and practice in the sight of regulators and customers. We also need more brokers beyond the current number of 500 to achieve greater insurance penetration in the country.”
On the issue of rate-cutting, the NCRIB chief said: “There is no need for rate regulation. It is like taking the industry back to the era of marketing boards for cocoa etc of 50 years ago.” He added that each corporate entity should be able to fix its own rate taking cognizance of its competencies since there is currently no official or mandatory rate in the market.
Tinubu said the federal government has so far released 62 percent of the premium on its group life assurance policy, meaning that the policy might not take full effect until December 2017 in accordance with the ‘No Premium, No Cover’ policy of the industry.
