The management of Guinea Insurance PLC is repositioning the insurance company to ensure value creation and optimum returns to its shareholders. the Managing Director, Mr. Ademola Abidogun, said.
Speaking at the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors’ (NAIPE) first quarter 2023 CEOs Forum in Lagos recently, Abidogun said: “We have a very robust board and workforce that is made up of accountants, lawyers and other professionals with a very strong business experience working together to ensure we are where we are today.”
Abidogun said the company has invested so much in staff training and acquisition of technology, adding that currently “we have so many portals including the Third Party Portal which helps us in doing our Motor Business. Motor Business still remains the biggest of our products and we have partnership with a few brokers on that.”
According to him, “we are also getting new businesses from Brokers such as Marine Insurance for example. This segment is also growing despite the fact that there has been a lot of challenges in the areas of dollars and importation. Our oil and gas business portfolio too has also picked up because people are very passionate about insurance.”
On agric insurance, he said the Company is partnering with some international bodies to grow that segment.
He said the process of getting approval for Travel Insurance from NAICOM is ongoing.
Abidogun said the Company’s portal for its Motor and Marine insurance business is strengthening their partnership with some brokers, which he said have started patronizing them.
His words “The brokers partnership, our new business initiatives, our portal that we have for Motor and Marine insurances and some business with government agencies combined to ensure that we are getting value for our shareholders.”
In term of opening new branches, he said “We really don’t want to open a lot of branches but what we are doing is to have as many sales outlets as possible because to open new branch offices now is very expensive. We want to have sales outlets and well run central underwriting system and a central accounting system.
“Although we have few branches in strategic areas, we also want to open more sales outlets in strategic areas to complement the existing branch and enhance our operations in selling most of our products and repositioning our brands there.”

By Sola Alabadan

The Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) has raised the alarm that the bill seeking to exempt the National Assembly Service from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) will have negative impacts on the pensioners and should therefore be discarded.

Recently, both Chambers of the National Assembly passed a “Bill for an Act to amend the Pension Reform Act, 2014, to Exclude/Exempt the National Assembly Service from the Contributory Pension Scheme and Establish the National Assembly Service Pension Board; and for Related Matters.”

PenOp stated that “the passage of this bill sets a dangerous precedence that will not augur well for hardworking Nigerians, working across the private and public sector, who depend on the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for retirement security and stability.
“The introduction of the CPS in Nigeria marked a departure from the unsustainable pension schemes the country had been operating in the past. This scheme has brought transparency, international best practice and guaranteed peace of mind to millions of pensioners. For these reasons and many more, the need for the above bill is indeed unfathomable and unjustifiable.”
The pension operators expressed grave concern regarding the way the bill was passed, saying” The passage of this bill seems to have been unnecessarily expedited and shrouded in secrecy with very little engagement and input from critical stakeholders—as it was passed during the National Assembly’s recess.”” “Indeed, it is disturbing that this bill did not go through any public hearing, a key component of the legislative process that allows stakeholders to have their voices and opinions heard for possible inclusion in the process. If this was done, pertinent issues such as the amendment of retirement age, funding of pension liability, and the potential debt burden on government—all of which are affected by this bill—would have been debated and brought to the fore.
“The National Assembly prides itself as the heart of our democracy. Indeed, the halls of the National Assembly are the people’s halls. As such, it is extremely important that the legislative authority the National Assembly wields is in no way subverted to serve vested interests in passing anti-people legislation. The exemption of any agency or group from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) holds grave consequences for the Nation’s struggling fiscal position and will potentially upend the retirement security of pensioners who have given their blood and sweat in service to our great Nation.
“Therefore, without reservations, PenOp, as a critical stakeholder in Nigeria’s pension industry, wishes to state that it considers the passage of this bill a procedural anomaly and legislative immorality. Hence, we call on all well-meaning Nigerians to note this grave anomaly and join us in calling on the National Assembly to reconsider its decision as well as enjoin the Executive and the Judiciary to outrightly condemn this action.
“More specifically, we call on the National Economic Council, the Minister of Finance, Budget & National Planning, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and all relevant government stakeholders to look into this anti-people bill and ensure that it is not signed into law.
“Finally, should this bill proceed to Mr. President, we call on him to kindly refuse to assent to this bill in the interest of the people, the sustainability of the Nation’s pension system and the flawed procedure in which this bill went through.”

Insurance and pension operators in Nigeria will be attending the BusinessToday conference holding on Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at Oriental Hotel in Lagos.

The annual conference usually deliberate and find solutions to issues that affect the insurance and pension sectors in the country.

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) have endorsed the upcoming 2023 annual conference of BusinessToday Communication Limited.

The two agencies will lead other professionals to the conference to discuss burning issues in the insurance and pension sectors.

The Conference which is the seventh edition in the series, has the theme: “Consumer Satisfaction In Deepening Penetration In Insurance And Pension Sectors.”

The keynote Speaker is the Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise [CPPE], Dr. Muda Yusuf, is expected to be the Keynote Speaker while the Chairman of the occasion is Babajide Olatunde- Agbeja, Chairman Boff and Company Insurance Brokers Limited.

The Commissioner for National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr. Sunday Thomas is the special guest of honour.

A statement by the Editor-In-Chief/Chief Executive Officer, BusinessToday, Nkechi Naeche-Esezobor, said experts drawn from insurance and pension sectors would be on hand to speak on the theme of the conference.

The Director General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar; the Chairman Nigerian Insurers Association, Segun Omoshein ( NIA) and President of Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, (PenOp),) Mr. Olumide Oyetan, have all confirmed their attendance at the conference.

Similarly, Pension Guru and former Managing Director/ CEO, Access Pension Fund Custodian Limited, Mrs. Idu Okwuosa- Okeahialami and the Director General NIA, Mrs Yetunde Ilori among others, will be in attendance.

Others expected are: Association of Pension Desk Practitioners of Nigeria; Amagamated Traders Association Alakoro Market; Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Trade Union Congress, Nigerian Labour Congress, Association of Senior Staff of Banks Insurance and other Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), Consumer Awareness Organisation, Market Women, People Living With Disability in Lagos, Nigerian Port Authority and Students of insurance (Laspotech).