Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Universal Insurance Plc has secured the approval of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to underwrite agriculture insurance.
The ‘no objection’ nod will enable Universal Insurance support farmers and service providers in the agricultural value chain for greater sustainability and economic growth.
Among the products approved are fishery agricultural insurance plan and poultry agricultural insurance plan.
In a statement, the management of Universal Insurance stated that the agribusiness sector in Nigeria needs insurance to remain sustainable and achieve long term growth expectation.
The statement further maintained that stakeholders in the agricultural value chain must embrace insurance if they want to reduce retained risk by transferring the burden to insurers for effective risk management.
With this approval, Universal Insurance Plc is now well-positioned to broaden its product offerings to consumers, which is in line with the federal government’s objective to deepen insurance penetration in Nigeria.
The company, by this development, is strategically accelerating its business objective of building a dominant company in the Nigerian insurance industry.
Universal Insurance poultry policy covers the death of the poultry animals resulting from accident or disease while the fishery policy covers loss of fish caused by death and cost of reconstruction of fish pond in the event of a collapse.
Known as Universal Insurance Company Limited (UNISURE), it was established by the then Eastern Nigeria Government and African Continental Bank Plc in 1961 through an association between Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation (ENDC) and Pearl Assurance Company Limited of London whereby ENDC acted as agents to the insurance company.
Also from inception, the company has been on a partnership relationship with Swiss Reinsurance Company of Zurich, which also provided the necessary reinsurance support.
The aftermath of the Nigeria civil war made eastern Nigeria become defunct and after a series of changes, the East-Central state was split into Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Abia, and Ebonyi states. These five states apart from many individuals have shares in the company.
As at today, this company has an asset base of over N11 billion, authorized and share capital of 16 billion units and N8 billion paid-up respectively. It is a General Business organization, it underwrites General Insurance business.
