Cross River, NCRIB seal pact on government assets, investment

The Cross River State Government has assured the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) of patronage of its members in the insurance of its assets and investments to sustain the state’s economic vibrancy.

The State Governor, Prof. Benedict Ayade, made the promise while declaring open the 2017 Chief Executive Officers Retreat of the Council held in Calabar, over the weekend.

Ayade said: “as a State that is propelled by the spirit of enterprise, let me assure partnership with the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, to ensure the attainment of your set objectives.”

The Governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Tina Agbor, said: “We fully understand the critical importance of insurance to all our developmental goals. While creating the enabling environment for businesses and other forms of investment to thrive, we shall key in appropriately by taking up insurance policies to cover our investments across the state.

“As decisionmakers and managers of a critical sector of our national economy, I charge the Council to come up with strategies that will enhance policy consistency and sustainability in the insurance sub sector, as this is key to multi-sectoral development

The Governor urged the Council to come up with workable and more proactive measures that would tackle the many problems militating against insurance in Nigeria during the three day retreat.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari, enjoined the Council to use the opportunity of the retreat to brainstorm on workable modalities to tackle the issue of poor acceptance of insurance products among the Nigerians.

According to him, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), and NCRIB are partners in ensuring insurance penetration, decrying the general attitude of Nigerians to insurance products, especially the six compulsory products.

The Commissioner, represented by the Deputy Commissioner for Insurance, Technical, Sunday Thomas, urged brokers to improve on service delivery to reduce the existing gap by creating additional intermediaries to complement the existing ones, which has been accommodated in the proposed new guidelines.