The wave of daunting large expanse of uninsured lives, businesses and properties rolls over the West Africa landscape with very minimal financial response to douse the debilitating impact upon persons and things hit by its constant happenings.
Over time the impact of climate change happens for all to see irrespective of the side the proponents and opponents. It’s taken place and there should be a form of intervention not taken in that geographical area that takes the burden away from the primary victims and placed on financial sector burden bearers that have the mechanism to share and absorb shocks that government alone cannot shoulder.
That the government is now publicly championing the on boarding of insurance industry to stand where it once stood to absorb losses for a fee at the onset of annual financial transaction tagged insurance cover speaks volumes of government exhaustion in the face of challenge of climate change that traditional budget the once almighty rescue can no longer cope, and governments say it without mincing words.
Speaking on the approach that is now gaining traction in the government space was the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, at the just concluded by WAICA conference in Lagos on “The West Africa Insurer in the Face of Climate Change,” she took a chopper view of the climate change disasters in the subregion and clears that “Across West Africa, floods, droughts, and coastal erosion are already destroying livelihoods, straining public finances, and threatening food security. Each disaster brings not only human tragedy but also heavy fiscal burdens.”
With the fact spirallying that there is a strain on public finances mitigating disasters, government according to Uzoka-Anite, is looking for the answer in a mechanism that already exists and proven adequate but up until now has not earned government and general public embrace in the country and West Africa at large. Capturing the present subregion scene, she said emphatically that, “This reality makes climate risk a macroeconomic concern requiring proactive financial planning. Insurance therefore becomes indispensable – a mechanism to share and absorb shocks that governments alone cannot shoulder.”
Rallying insurance as the absorber of shocks occasioned by climate change disasters, she said the Federal Government recognises insurance as a pillar of the country’ financial architecture, and expressed satisfaction that the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act 2025, now integrates insurance into public-private partnerships for climate resilience.
Showing how far government has shifted from stand alone position to the present stand of the Federal Government on climate change, the Finance Minister for State said, “We must treat climate change not only as an environmental challenge but also as a financial imperative. Africa already loses billions annually to climate-related disasters.”
Walking tall on government response she said, “Nigeria is advancing frameworks that combine sovereign risk insurance, regional disaster-risk pools, and public-private climate-finance mechanisms to ensure rapid response and fiscal stability. These tools strengthen preparedness and prevent disruptions to essential development programmes.”
Its clear that government is shifting and calling insurance to take its position with sustainable financial transaction in place that stands, able to withstand affected insurable risks in climate disasters which ultimately prevent disruptions to essential development programmes.
The insurance industry is now face to face with cubing the high incidence of uninsured risks in disasters. Embrace of insurance is low, equally penetration is low. The onus is now on the industry across the subregion to do more to increase the number of persons and dimensions of endeavours in the insurance safety net.
There are scores of billions of Dollars uninsured risks associated with climate disasters, the situation in the West hemisphere though not as high as other climes parades a high figure that third world records can possibly say we are not alone, but the high level makes it imperative that a different approach that proclaims insurance for embrace should be a state policy and that is the thinking at least in the approach of Nigeria government.
Pointing to innovation and inclusion as the key to insurance embrace Uzoka-Anite said that should be the focus of the insurance industry across the West Africa insurance market, a game changer that transforms the market. Her bare comment, “Insurance will achieve its true impact only when it reaches everyone – farmers, market women, artisans, and micro-entrepreneurs. We must promote micro-insurance, digital channels, and parametric products that pay out instantly based on verified data.
“By doing so, we expand coverage, deepen financial inclusion, and strengthen resilience at the grassroots – which remains a priority of the Federal Ministry of Finance,” she said.
