The Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission, Mr Sunday Thomas, has said the insurance industry is attracting huge pension funds and contributing largely to the national economy.
A statement said he spoke when he visited the Retail Plaza of Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc in Mushin, Lagos.
“Huge pension funds is emptying itself into the insurance industry as annuity,” he said.
Thomas said Mutual Benefits Assurance was helping to fulfil the Federal Governments’ desire to pull 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
He said, “Our subsector, as evidenced in Mutual Benefits, is leading the way in pulling several Nigerian university graduates from the unemployment market.
“NAICOM is partnering very well with the Lagos State Government, and we intend to take this very laudable initiative to the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory. Insurance is audaciously taking its rightful place in the Nigerian economy.
“Without insurance, the Federal Capital Territory would not have come to be. Hilton and Sheraton Hotels were built with insurance money.”
According to him, the era when insurance contributed substantially to the setting up of foremost banks like First Bank and the defunct NAL and ICON Merchant Banks is here.
While speaking on Mutual Benefits’ retail business model, the commissioner said, “It is amazing seeing what we have here. Mutual Benefits is indeed a pride to insurance practice in Nigeria.”
The commissioner commended Mutual Benefit’s initiative and noted that the model was the sustaining power of a value-delivering insurance industry.
He assured the retail marketers that they were in the right profession and that they were contributing to ongoing efforts to develop and grow the national economy.
