Living up to their mandate of restoring people to the state they were before risks occurred, insurance operators within five years paid N648.16 billion claims to claimants.

Data obtained from the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) revealed that life operators within 2014 and 2018 paid N315.47 billion, while non-life operators within the same period paid N332.69 billion.

A breakdown of the claims showed that life operators paid N35.95 billion, in 2014; N50.57 billion, 2015; N61.87 billion, 2016; N72.30, 2017; N94.78 billion, 2018, while non-life operators paid N51.06 billion in 2014; N54.65 billion, 2015; N57.76 billion, 2016; N70.52 billion in 2017 and N98.70 billion in 2018.

On what was paid to claimants based on region, South West got N171.29 billion; North Central got N19.93 billion; South South, N12.97 billion; North West, N4.73 billion; South East, N2.54 billion and North East, N52.91 million.

Ahmed Salawudeen, group president /CEO Standard Insurance Consultants Limited, Dr. implored insurers to do more in the area of claims payment, stressing that public confidence on Insurance could only be restored through prompt payment of claims.

According to him, the insurance industry will grow when underwriters live up to their claims responsibilities. He urged operators to esteem professionalism and execute their business based on trust which is the core of insurance operators.

Modestus Anaesoronye is a leading Nigerian financial journalist with over two decades of experience reporting on the insurance and pension sectors across Nigeria and West Africa. He has held key editorial positions at major national media outlets, including The Comet, The Nation, and Financial Standard, and currently serves as a Senior Financial Analyst at BusinessDay Media Ltd. A widely travelled reporter, he has covered industry developments in more than 14 countries across Africa and Asia. Anaesoronye is a multiple award-winning journalist, honoured several times as Insurance Journalist of the Year and Pension Journalist of the Year by recognised industry bodies, including PensionScope and the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), among others.

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