Corporate affairs managers of insurance companies in Nigeria under the umbrella of CAMCONIA have taken up the challenge of finding suatinable growth path for the insurance industry via communication.
Dr. Tunde Adeyemi, Chairman of CAMCONIA said at its annual retreat in Abeokuta, Ogun State that the reasons why the sector has not grown exponentially lies within the core tasks of communication and their boundaries as Corporate Affairs and Communication Managers.
“It then means that we as public relations or communications practitioners, as the case may be, need to brace up to unbundle the potential and benefits of insurance more clearly to the Nigerian populace. It is a common aphorism that rumour, half-truths and unbelief thrive in an environment where communication is lacking. Consequently, this retreat among other reasons intends to first, deliberately enhance our own personal knowledge power and reputation management skills. This would in turn also translate in our better service delivery, leading to an improved insurance industry.”
Adeyemi said it is a known fact that the onus should be on operators and professionals in contemporary times to continually train and re-train themselves in order to catch up with the trend of the times. He added that it is a delusion for any professional to remain stagnant in a changing world and expect to make impact!
“This retreat therefore becomes pertinent and there is no better time to champion the discourse on the impact of PR on Insurance & Risk Management than now, given the recessive state of our national economy and the need to accentuate the value of insurance to reflating the economy than now.”
He lamented that the Nigerian insurance industry has been bedeviled by low penetration occasioned by multifarious reasons bordering mainly on unfriendly cultural beliefs; lack of trust in the practitioners, lack of Insurance education and unfriendly economic environment, among others.
“Unfortunately, these reasons have remained the bane of Insurance in the last five decades and it is responsible for the abysmal contribution of the industry to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product [GDP]. It is a thing of regret that in spite of the catalytic roles of insurance to national economies of progressive countries, the industry has continued to find itself in the back waters of development.”
The CAMCONIA expressed optimism that the retreat will be the beginning of positive transformation of information management in the Nigerian insurance industry.
