Akin Ogunbiyi, Chairman Mutual Benefits Plc
In fact, when I came into the industry, they were still quoting 0.25 per cent penetration and that’s the situation. It’s very unfortunate even though insurance is over 100 years old in Nigeria. Insurance has focused mainly on corporate insurance. There hasn’t been, any attempt to penetrate informal sectors because if really, insurance is to develop, I will tell you, it is the informal sector, where every transaction that happens in Nigeria today, as of today, is ratio one to nine.
The National Insurance Commission recently suspended the licences of some big players in the industry. Should we expect to see more of this? Now, we have got N18 billion. How much do you need to start a bank? You need N25 billion, and there’s nothing this government will do that the money will not pass through the bank. So, the bank will make free money. I say it’s in insurance that you have the creativity and ingenuity of marketing, but banks just take free money. As you’re seated now, if you send money to someone, they’ll take your money.