By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has charged insurers across West Africa to strategise on repositioning the insurance industry on the continent for global competitiveness amid continued disruption.
The Minister gave this charge at the 50th anniversary of the West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA) 2023 Educational Conference hosted by Nigeria in Lagos.
At the event themed Repositioning Insurance Industry in West Africa for Global Competitiveness, she said insurance has been characterised by low penetration and poor contribution to most African countries’ financial growth.
Mrs Ahmed, represented by the Commissioner for Insurance/Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr Sunday Thomas, said maintaining an efficient, fair, safe, and stable insurance market in the West African sub-region must be promoted for the benefit of the policyholders and other stakeholders.
“As an optimist, we are encouraged to believe in a new dawn, leveraging technological innovations and a positive paradigm shift, focused and poised to meet the anticipated surge in the demand and untapped side.
“In the modern business environment, disruption plays an integral part of any business.
“The insurance industry, like other components of the financial system, is changing in response to a wide range of global social and economic forces.
“In particular, insurance and insurance-linked financial activities are increasingly crossing national and sectorial boundaries,” she said.
According to her, the 2023 WAICA educational conference could not have been more aptitude in view of the overarching objective behind the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to accelerate intra-African trade.
Mrs Ahmed emphasised the need to establish a high-quality insurance database to provide a holistic view of the industry’s operations in the sub-region.
The finance minister encouraged WAICA members to leverage technology and other alternative distribution channels to increase market penetration.
She said that multilateral cooperation must be enhanced with the objective of promoting international standards and fostering favourable investment environments and orderly markets in the West African sub-region and beyond.
“Consequently, it has become imperative for the Insurance supervisory systems and practices to upgrade in order to cope with these developments continually.
“This is to mitigate possible financial and systemic stability concerns arising from the insurance sector as they emerge.
“I congratulate all WAICA delegates on the occasion of the association’s golden jubilee and wish you a fruitful deliberation,” she said.
Dipo Olowookere 
Modupe Gbadeyanka