L-R: Dr. Jeff Duru, Managing Director/CEO, Universal Insurance Plc; Mrs. Nkechi Naechie-Esezobor, Chairperson, Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE) and Mr. Tunji Oyebayo, Head, Marketing, Universal Insurance Plc at the 2024/2025 NAIPE AGM in Lagos.
One of the oldest insurance companies in Nigeria, Universal Insurance Plc has reported Gross Written Premium (GWP) of N15.25 billion in the financial year ended December 31, 2024.
The Managing Director/CEO of the Company, Dr. Jeff Duru, disclosed this in Lagos while speaking at the 2024/2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE).
He also disclosed that as at the first quarter of 2025, the Company achieved a GWP of N8.07 billion, above 100 per cent higher than the target for the quarter.
According to him, “last year, we recorded N15.25 billion in Gross Written Premium (GWP) and profit after tax of N2.8 billion. Our shareholders’ funds as at the first quarter was in the neighbourhood of N16.4 billion when compared to N13.25 billion reported in 2024. We are charged to serve the public better to make them have that experience. Our claims payment is now top-notch. Our services are top-notch. We are fully computerised. All our Personal Line products are digitised. You can go through our website, access our products, get your quotes and make payment there seamlessly, and you can also initiate claims payment and we follow it up at the backend.”
He continued: “Universal insurance has come to stay and to serve the industry, give them the peace of mind, give them an excellent customer experience. That is what we are doing.
“As at the first quarter, we have produced N8.07 billion in terms of GWP, and that was about 130% of our first quarter target. We are progressive, we are highly innovative and bringing insurance to the doorstep of our customers, with seamless operations, accessibility and affordability. Our products are highly affordable. You can try us and you will get the best service with peace of mind.”
On products and initiatives, Duru said: “Our initiatives and products include Shop in Shop cover. The shop in shop cover was basically designed for shop owners and businessmen that operate businesses at a the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) level. It provides them with fire insurance cover, burglary, hotel insurance cover, cover for personal injury and alternative accommodation during relocation effort.
“We have OkadaPass. This product was designed for companies, organisations that are into delivery, people that deliver products and services through bike. It’s an online or digital service provision for the delivery business. It covers the bike, the rider and the package, because the package can be of great value to the service providers and personal injury to the riders.
“Our initiatives also include our digital customer portal, mobile app through which our customers can access our products, get quotes, initiate renewals, and initiate claims.
“We have our digital chat box, or Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven chat box and visual assistant. That is 247 services that will take the position of our service centers at any point in time, our chat box will deliver fantastic experience to the customers both chat and voice services.
“We have our digital pre and post loss survey, especially for motor vehicles. Now the manual intervention in surveying or inspecting vehicles is no longer there, once you want to insure your vehicle, our survey team will deploy the digital portal for the AI driven portal to you through your phone, and you will use your phone to do the physical inspection of your vehicle, and even when there is a claim, it will still be deployed to use it to do your inspection and the information will come to our database and we can see everything. It cuts down fraud, cuts down manpower, reduces cost and gives you that excellent touch with speed of service for our claim delivery. These are part of the advantages that come from that service.”
Universal insurance Plc is a non-life insurance underwriter that has existed for over 60 years, re-engineered and regenerated to serve customers better. The company is fully recapitalised with asset base of over N20 billion.
