The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, has stated that there are detrimental effects from the insurance industry’s low customer satisfaction rates.
The Punch revealed that the Executive Vice Chairman of the FCCPC, Tunde Irukera, made this announcement on Thursday in Lagos at the Insurance and Pension Editors of Nigeria Roundtable.
The theme of the event was, “Consumer Satisfaction: Key to the Growth of the Insurance and Pension Sectors.”
Irukera, who was represented by the commission’s Head of Lagos, Mrs Susie Onwuka, stated that claims were difficult to redeem, reducing customer satisfaction.
The head of the FCCPC claimed that rules are simply too strict and that there shouldn’t be a winner-take-all situation.
“I will state that a lot more work needs to be done by the industry to satisfy customers. They must educate the clients regarding the goods they are offering.
Additionally, the National Pension Commission’s Director General, Aisha Dahir-Umar, who was represented by Akinsola Adeseun stated that only 25 states have implemented the Pension Reforms Act of 2014.
“I can tell you that this is being implemented in around 25 states at various stages. We evaluate whether or not states are complying based on a number of factors.”
He explained that the first step was legislation, “they must put in that law, the state law, and about 25 of them have that”.
“Then, they must set up what we call the Pension Bureau or Commission which is the agency that will drive contributory pension schemes in those states. There are other parameters that time will not permit me to mention.”
“He claimed that about five of them, mostly in the North, have some sort of hybrid pension scheme, while the remaining 25 are in the first stage, adding that they call their own hybrid system, the contributory defined benefit scheme.
“Generally speaking, there is complete compliance at the federal level, but there are varying degrees of compliance at the state level,” Dahir-Umar said.
The President of IPEN, Chuks Okonta, said in his welcome speech that the roundtable’s theme made sense given the industry’s efforts to boost penetration.
“Players in the insurance and pension space are repositioning to deepen penetration by providing customers with better service delivery. While the insurance sector is anticipated to reach its N1 trillion premium income goal in 2023, this goal was anticipated to be accomplished years earlier.”
