“Let’s “discuss this industry with strength, with believe, energy and with conviction. We are doing so much that we are not talking about. Let me tell you the narrative we are selling now so that you can also connect with it. Its a narrative to something more positive.”
The Deputy Commissioner for Insurance (Technical,) National Insurance Commission NAICOM, Ekerete Ola Gam-Ikon, arranged this special note to keep the insurance market in upward swing mode as he set to present the keynote address at the Year 2026 Business Outlook, hosted by the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, in Lagos.
Drawing the attention of the attendees, Gam-Ikon said, “In NAICOM we are no longer discussing gross written premium, because when you discuss that you talk about one percent penetration; we don’t discuss that anymore.
“We are telling the world that if not for the insurance industry aircraft will not fly in Nigeria, oil rigs will not work in Nigeria. The President’s aircraft will not fly. We are telling the world that without insurance, we will not seat down and be comfortable. Do you know how much sum insured the industry is carrying. That is the security the industry is providing for the economy which we are not speaking about. We all need to have a new understanding of the strength of insurance,” he reiterated.
He also made it clear that there has been a shift in the doings of the industry year on year, “Insurance industry is not where it was last year. It’s not where it was five years ago. It’s not where it was 10 years ago. The past years do not matter anymore. What matters is where is the industry going to be in five years time and, what is going to be your role in making that industry of your desire in five years from now.”
The DFI cleared that discussions about insurance has heightened in Nigeria. “You no longer hear people shouting that my claims are outstanding and not paid.” However, he admits that there are still cases of outstanding claims, but it is not as it used to be. Besides, he noted positively too that complaints of not having digital process to work is absent.”
He therefore, submitted that the “insurance industry is strong and all we need is the right platform to test for us to believe that the insurance industry has become strong.”
He challenged insurance professionals to present positive mindset. “We are in a war, nobody wants insurance to rise. They know that when insurance rises they will not talk again. We are not poor cousins of anybody. We don’t have relatives anymore. We are moving on because the future matters more than the past. Nobody should intimidate us and feel that we don’t belong. The industry is the backbone of the economy.”
