THERE are indications that insurance companies are groaning under the weight of a surging claims portfolio as more risks crystallize, despite efforts to stem the tide. ADVERTISING ADVERTISING The latest financial reports of leading insurers show an escalation of claims volume, rising faster and overshadowing the growth recorded in premium income. The industry’s total Gross Premium Written, GPW, grew by 12.4 percent to N226.8 billion against N201.7 billion recorded in 2017. But the total claims expenses on the other hand went up by 16.5 percent to N98.9 billion from N84.9 billion recorded in 2017. File: insurance The same trend was recorded in the previous year when GPW grew by 9.7 percent while claims expenses went up by 30.3 percent. Industry operators have expressed worry that the trend would pose threat to the industry’s survival in the medium term if not checked.

According to some stakeholders, the greed to take up some particular businesses, contrary to actuarial advise, contributed to the situation. Consequently, some operators have resolved to avoid risks that the actuarial reports may have flagged. Others, on the other hand have said that they can only take up such risk if the price is right because inadequate pricing have been part of the problem generated by competition for customer acquisitions. According to the Managing Director of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, Mr. Eddie Efekoha, “The industry paid a very huge claim for a particular business in the course of the year. Clearly, if the premium for that business is inadequate, in the next thirty years the claim cannot be paid.

” Companies’ performance A breakdown of individual company performance shows that Prestige Assurance had it tough in terms of claims payment where GPW grew by 26.3 percent to N4.8 billion from N3.8 billion, while claims expenses went up by a whopping 83 percent to N1.2 billion from N655.7 million. Sovereign Trust grew its GPW by 23.5 percent to N10.5 billion against N8.5 billion, but its claims expenses went up by 46.2 percent to N1.9 billion from N1.3 billion. Consolidated Hallmark Insurance had GPW increased by 21.1 percent to N6.9 billion from N5.7 billion, while claims expenses climbed by 28.6 percent to N1.8 billion from N1.4 billion. Leadway Assurance grew its GPW by 3.9 percent to N87.5 billion from N84.2 billion, while claims expenses escalated by 23.7 percent to N33.9 billion from N27.4 billion.

Regency Alliance GPW went up by 3.6 percent to N5.8 billion from N5.6 billion, while claims expenses increased by 10.5 percent to N2.1 billion against N1.9 billion. However, some companies recorded a positive balancing of the claims with the premium. AIICO Insurance GPW went up by 17.4 percent to N37.7 billion from N32.1 billion, while claims expenses rose by 14.9 percent to N23.9 billion against N20.8. Custodian and Allied Insurance GPW climbed by 15 percent to N36.7 billion from N31.9 billion, while claims expenses went up by 10.1 percent to N15.3 billion against N13.9 billion. AXA Mansard GPW increased by 26.5 percent to N33.9 billion from N26.8 billion, while claims expenses went up by just 4.4 percent to N16.5 billion from N15.8 billion. Operators’ perspective Although some insurers recorded modest growth on the GPW, some operators believe it could have been better if not for huge claims settlement. Efekoha said, “We grew our premium modestly and we were profitable which were enhanced by some tax savings that we had. Insurance should be looking up in some respect.” Managing directors of the companies that had adverse claims portfolio preferring to speak on the condition of anonymity said that under-pricing of risks have been the undoing of many insurance operators and the slow growth in premium income.

He stated: “Many insurers have undone and keep shooting themselves on the foot by under-pricing the risk they carry, which they are still doing. “Some companies recently went to the capital market to raise funds. So after struggling to raise funds, they will then give it to some companies that are richer than them in the name of settlement of claims, without any ‘thank you.’ “For me, I don’t know the broker who will change our mindset here. I cannot enrich someone who is already the richest man in Nigeria or Africa because I sweated for this money. “If everybody will price a product wrongly, I will not. I believe in underwriting which teaches that when you have a good risk, you lower your premium, when you have a bad risk, you increase your premium. But what I see today is completely different. Unfortunately, after under-pricing a risk and paying huge claims, during renewal, a lower premium is charged. “In insurance, if a risk becomes certain, you remove it, you don’t cover it.

It is uncertainty that the insurance industry is made to cover, it is not made for certainty. Unfortunately, by our action and inaction, we have contributed to the poor state of the sector.” Speaking on the issue, former President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, Mrs. Laide Osijo, said that the concentration on corporate business to the detriment of the retail market has contributed to the marginal growth in GPW over the years. She stated: “We have done the corporate businesses to their limits, unfortunately the corporate businesses can no longer increase in terms of insurance budget and that is why the premium income for the industry is not growing astronomically.” Another top executive of an insurance firm who spoke on the condition of anonymity also attributed the slow growth in premium income to inadequate pricing of risks. He said, “Inadequate pricing of risks goes on in this industry, unfortunately, when the big claims come, not everybody responds as expected. Why is it so? Because liquidity is not there. “You have not built enough capacity and the claims keep coming, there will be nothing left afterwards.” Also speaking on condition of anonymity, an operator blamed the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, for the under-pricing in the industry saying that it is the duty of the Commission to sanitize the sector. He said, “I believe that there is enough ammunition in the Insurance Act for the regulator to use to sanction companies. If as a company I can’t settle genuine claims and the regulator finds out that I don’t have capacity, it can stop me from writing those classes of business that will embarrass this market. Anybody who trades with you in that class, I equally prohibit them or sanction them, so that others can learn. NAICOM has the power to sack the MD and say ‘we no longer recognize you as the CEO’.”

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/04/insurance-claims-rise-faster-than-premium-income/

Human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), has said he is planning to write to the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), to demand answers on why the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has been disobeying court orders.

The activist lawyer said he recalled that even when Buhari ruled the country in the 80s as a military dictator, orders of court were never disobeyed.



Falana said this in Lagos on Thursday during the public lecture marking the 30th anniversary of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights.

The lecture, with the theme, ‘Chronicling the struggle, identifying the way forward,” was delivered by a Professor of International Law and Jurisprudence, Akin Oyeboye; while Prof. Julius Honvhere of the Ford Foundation was the keynote speaker.

Speaking in his capacity as the chairman of the CDHR Board of Trustees, Falana said the struggle for the respect of human rights in the country had made a lot of gains in the last 30 years.

“Thirty years ago, it would have been impossible to assemble to discuss human rights in our country. Notwithstanding that we are currently having what you might call rickety democracy, there are gains, all the struggles of over 30 years, that we must celebrate today,” Falana said.

The lawyer, however, said he was worried about how court orders were being disobeyed by the Federal Government.

He said, “I just remember this morning trying to write a letter to the Attorney General of the Federation and I found, very painfully, that whereas the Buhari/Idiagbon regime complied with all court orders for the release of those who were held illegally under the state security detention of persons Decree No 2 of 1984, we cannot say the same today under a democratic government.”

In his lecture, Oyebode criticised the 1999 Constitution, which he said lacked legitimacy because the Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar regime did not call for the input of the citizens.

“The general contempt held by the dictators everywhere for the people informed the attitude of the junta towards the right of the Nigerian people to partake in the making of the most important law governing their lives,” the don said.



Oyebode said for Nigeria to become a liberal democratic society, the people must be ready to put the government on its toes “so that an end is speedily brought to impunity.”

In his remarks, the National President of CDHR, Mr Malachy Ugwummadu, described the organisation’s journey in the last 30 years as “eventful; a mix bag but clearly with huge prospects and possibilities of fulfillment.”

Source: https://punchng.com/falana-laments-buharis-disobedience-to-court-orders/

Ado Ekiti-The National president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Com. Ayuba Wabba , has stated that the the excuses by some governors that they can’t pay was not tenable. Wabba Wanna declared that Nigerian workers won’t accept any minimum wage less than N30,000 from the governors. Wabba said the new Minimum wage has become binding , having been signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, saying He spoke in Ado Ekiti on Thursday at the NLC delegate conference, where the former Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, Ekiti State University Branch, Com. Olatunde Kolapo, was elected as the new chairman of NLC in Ekiti state.

Comrade Kolapo emerged unopposed among other executive Members that were elected. Niger releases N800m for pensions, gratuities Wabba, whose address was delivered by an Ex-officio of the Congress, Com. Maureen Onyia-Ekwuazi , said the Congress would not take anything short of N30,000 as minimum wage from state governors since it has become a right. “Once the minimum wage bill had been signed by President Buhari, it has become a law and we wont allow any governor to circumvent the law .

” What we asked for was a living wage and we can’t allow anybody to shortchange our members “, he said. Wabba urged the new labour leaders to be resolute and committed in the struggle for improved welfare of their members, saying this should be done without compromise. Performing the opening ceremony, Governor of Ekiti state, Dr Kayode Fayemi who was represented by the Chief of Staff, Mr Biodun Omoleye, promised the readiness of state government to pay the N30,000 minimum wage. The governor said the newly elected leadership of the trade unions in the state would be invited soon for a meeting on the modalties to ensure the payment. He announced that all facilities at Government offices would be upgraded while conducive environment would be provided to ensure optimal performance of workers.

Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/?p=1182641

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, says doctors who feel they want to relocate in search of greener pastures are free to do so as the nation has enough medical personnel.

Ngige said this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday.



The minister was responding to a question on brain drain and the deliberate recruitment of Nigerian doctors by foreign embassies in Nigeria to the detriment of the nation’s health sector.

In his response, however, Ngige, who is also a medical doctor, said there was nothing wrong with doctors leaving the country as they would continue to send foreign exchange home which could, in turn, grow the economy.

He said, “No, I am not worried (about doctors leaving the country). We have surplus. If you have surplus, you export. It happened some years ago here. I was taught chemistry and biology by Indian teachers in my secondary school days.

“There are surplus in their country and we also have surplus in the medical profession in our country. I can tell you this. In my area, we have excess.

“Who said we don’t have enough doctors? We have more than enough. You can quote me. There is nothing wrong in them travelling out. When they go abroad, they earn money and send them back home here. Yes, we have foreign exchange earnings from them and not just oil.”


When asked if he was sure of what he was saying, the minister said it was good for doctors to travel out as they would receive training from abroad and open up centres in Nigeria.

“Will you call that brain drain? I know a couple of them who practise abroad but set up medical centres back home. They have CAT scan, MRI scan which even the government cannot maintain. So, I don’t see any loss,” he said.

When asked if brain drain was not hurting the health sector, he said, “Brain drain will only be inimical when for instance neurosurgeons travel and we don’t have neurosurgeons here.”

Nigeria is believed to be one of the most affected countries in the world as regards emigration of medical doctors.

With an estimated population of over 180 million, there is one doctor per 5,000 people in Nigeria, according to the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, compared with the World Health Organization recommendation of one per 600 people.

There are 72,000 doctors registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria; over half practise outside the country.

Nine in every 10 doctors are considering work opportunities outside Nigeria. And it is projected to keep rising as doctors continue to face systemic challenges, according to NOI polls

https://punchng.com/doctors-free-to-leave-nigeria-we-have-enough-ngige/

EFCC have an informant. Else How do they even arrest people for $200 when i'm sure the Victim never contacted them.

The National Judicial Council on Wednesday started a two-day meeting where issues of appointment into the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria are among top items on the agenda, The PUNCH has learnt.

Our correspondent learnt that the NJC might at the end of its meeting on Thursday (today) recommend to President Buhari the extension of Justice Tanko Muhammad’s tenure as the acting CJN, pending when the process of making a substantive appointment for the topmost judicial office would be completed.



By virtue of section 231(4) of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution, Justice Muhammad’s three-month tenure as the acting CJN ends on April 25, and he cannot be re-appointed unilaterally by the President without the NJC’s recommendation.

With the reported resignation of the suspended CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, the need to extend Muhammad’s acting tenure was said to be urgent.

“The NJC will likely recommend the extension of the acting CJN’s tenure to avert a vacuum in the office because the process of making the substantive appointment of a CJN cannot be completed in about a week’s time when the tenure of the acting CJN, Justice Muhammad, will elapse,” a source familiar with the NJC’s meeting said.

Officials of the Federal Judicial Service Commission, the body with constitutional powers of advising the NJC on the appointment of the CJN, told our correspondent on Wednesday that the process of appointing the substantive person for the topmost judicial position had yet to start at the commission’s end.

Paragraph 13 of Part I of the Third Schedule of the Constitution provides that “the Commission shall have power to – (a) advise the National Judicial Council in nominating persons for appointment, as respects appointments to the office of –

“(i) the Chief Justice of Nigeria;” among other judges and heads of other federal courts.

FSJC officials explained to our correspondent that although the process of appointing the CJN would start at the commission, the NJC would need to officially inform the commission that the office of the CJN was vacant.

“The meeting of the NJC today (Wednesday) and tomorrow (Thursday) is expected to address the issue and send the necessary notice to the FJSC,” another source said.



The NJC’s ongoing meeting would be the first routine meeting of the council after a series of its emergency meetings which followed President Muhammadu Buhari’s suspension of Justice Onnoghen as the CJN and the immediate swearing-in of Justice Muhammad to replace him in acting capacity, on January 25.

The NJC had at one of its recent emergency meetings set up a panel to investigate various allegations of misconduct levelled against Onnoghen and Muhammad.

On April 3, the council reviewed the report of its five-man investigative panel and sent its recommendations which have not been made public to Buhari.

Barely 24 hours after, Onnoghen, who is believed to have been handed a negative verdict in the NJC’s recommendations, reportedly resigned through a letter he submitted to Buhari.

Reports said Muhammad was cleared by the NJC as he was found not to have done any wrong by submitting himself to being sworn in by Buhari as acting CJN without NJC’s input.

In a report by The PUNCH, Muhammad had in his response to a query by the NJC, claimed that President Buhari did not need the permission of the council to appoint him as the acting CJN.

A group, Centre for Justice and Peace Initiative, had petitioned the NJC, asking the council to remove Muhammad as a Justice of the Supreme Court for allowing himself to be sworn in by the President without recourse to the NJC.

Citing section 231(4) of the Constitution, however, Muhammad had said it would only be required for the President to act based on NJC’s recommendation only in the case of re-appointment in acting capacity or appointment of a substantive CJN.

He stated, “In my respectful view, the National Judicial Council has no role to play in the appointment of an acting Chief Justice of Nigeria in the first instance, that is to say on first appointment.

“The council comes in where the appointment as the acting CJN is to be renewed or extended. I humbly refer to Section 231(4) of the 1999 Constitution.”

Source: https://punchng.com/njc-meets-may-extend-muhammads-tenure-as-acting-cjn/