By Rosemary Iwunze

As climate change continues to cause natural and man-made disasters, such as flooding, drought and deforestation across Africa, WAICA Reinsurance Corporation, WAICA Re is set to offer practical solutions to this scourge.

To this end, the Corporation has vowed to, on an annual basis, sponsor a competition that would require people to provide practical solutions to ending such disasters on the continent, while WAICA Re will fund the winning project.

Hence, at the just concluded AIO 2021 in Lagos Nigeria, Ejike Nwankwo won the 2021 WAICA Re Champions Award, with his entry on how to manage plastic waste to prevent flooding while the Corporation promised to finance this initiative to the tune of $100,000.

He also went home with $5,000.

Uduakobong Inyang won $3000 as first runners-up while $2000 went to Chinwe Anthonia Umeobi of African Alliance Insurance Plc as the 2nd runners-up.

Speaking on the development, Group Chief Operating Officer, WAICA Re, Dr. Abiba Zakariah, said the Corporation came up with the initiative as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) to end drought, flood and deforestation across Africa, especially, West African region.

She stated that the projects proffered practical solutions that can be replicated across Africa, saying, WAICA Re is ready to continue to support such initiative with $100,000 annually.

“This is to ensure that Africans see themselves as solutions to African problems” she said.

She disclosed that the winner of the competition now becomes WAICA Re’s goodwill ambassador for a year, even as the reinsurance firm would support the winning project with $100,000, while such ambassador will have a cash reward of $5000.

There will also be 1st and 2nd runners-up with cash awards of $3000 and $2000 respectively, she stressed.

Similarly, the immediate past Secretary General, AIO, Prisca Soares, said,  the devastating effects of natural disasters, which might also be linked to climate change in most countries on the continent is better imagined, adding that, the untold and undocumented hardship on the communities and worsening poverty situations, are gaps insurance policies do not cover.

“So, beyond insurance policies, we must find practical solutions to some of these natural disasters as responsible citizens and corporate organisations.

“We may not have the power to stop natural disasters. Still, we can pull resources to alleviate their impact and reduce their frequency when we remove the human contributory factors,” she stated.

Vanguard News Nigeria