Insurers should not continue to sit on the fence —Adeda
BY ROSEMARY ONUOHA
Operators in the insurance industry have been called upon to champion constructive campaigns for the development of the infrastructural base in the country.
Mr. Sunny Adeda, immediate past president of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) who made this assertion in Lagos, noted that the state of infrastructure in the country affects insurance operation as such operators should not continue to sit on the fence on such issues.
In his words “We should begin to champion constructive campaigns for the development of the nation’s infrastructural base. The state of infrastructure in the country also remains a major challenge to sustainability and this has continued to constitute cause for concern for us as an Industry. The attendant risks in poor and insufficient infrastructural facilities such as roads, water supply and transportation cannot be overemphasized.”
Adeda also called on his colleagues to show a higher level of commitment to the affairs of the institute, saying “My greatest concern, as I spend the last couple of days as President of the Institute, is on the level of commitment we all show to the affairs of our professional body. We all need the Institute just as the Institute needs us and will continue to need us in order to occupy its rightful position in the comity of similar bodies in Nigeria.”
According to him, the situation whereby some members continue to sit on the fence can never augur well for the Institute.
The past president stated that the insurance industry, like other sub-sectors of the Financial Services Industry, has been having its fair share of the trying times, especially the challenges engendered by the mapping of recovery paths from the financial crisis which hit the Globe three years ago. “Although its effects are receding, there are still ripples of its impacts across all ramifications of business operations.
These notwithstanding, it seems the world is now facing the worst challenges from threats to sustainable energy supply, dwindling factors of production, skills shortfall in business productivity as well as uncertainties caused by political instability and inclement environmental incidents. All of these hamper sustainability and create investor-lethargy,” he noted.
“For example, the haunting images of Japan’s damaged nuclear stations engender fears about how the world will continue to power itself in a sustainable, safe way and how entrepreneurs can manage the challenges themselves by developing solutions. The truth is that only a convincing roadmap towards recovery from the dismal power situation in the country can stem the negative effects of power short-fall on the economy and the insured citizenry,” Adeda maintained.
