14042021 -6 Northern govs link up to fight banditry, terrorism

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26 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2021
vicahiyoung@yahoo.com
Consolidation of insurance firms
necessary to break foreign
dominance — Oyetunji
Dr. Femi Oyetunji is the
immediate past Group
Managing Director of Continental
Reinsurance. In
this interview, he speaks on
changes that need to happen
in the insurance industry
to transform the sector.
Excerpts:
YOU spent close to 10
years in Continental Reinsurance
as GMD, what are
the highlights of your tenure
especially in terms of
surmounting the challenges
of repositioning the
company?
Yes, on the 3rd of January
2011, when I first got
into Continental Re office at
St. Nicholas House, Lagos,
I knew I was going to face
some challenges because
we had only two existing
reinsurance companies in
Nigeria after the last recapitalisation
exercise. At that
time, the Deputy Managing
Director was a Nigerian,
the Chief Financial Officer
was an Ivorian and the
Executive Director, Operations
(who is still with us
now) is from Zimbabwe,
and myself Nigerian. In Lagos,
we had people from
different parts of Africa; our
shareholders were Americans,
South Africans, and
Nigerians, so it was not just
Nigerians. At the time I took
over in 2011, we had a
branch in Douala, Cameroon
and a branch in Nairobi,
Kenya. Even in terms of
location, we were multinational.
I got in there and I
saw a multinational company
but some people saw a
small Nigerian company.
My initial challenge was to
have a paradigm shift in
philosophy and mentality,
to see us not just as a small
Nigerian brand but a multinational
brand. Things
were as bad as on Fridays,
in Douala, Nairobi people
will wear Ankara tops to
the office. I didn’t think that
was what Continental Re
was all about. Even from the
name, the founders knew
what they wanted. We will
start work at 8.00 am Lagos
time, which is 10 am in
Nairobi. People in Nairobi
couldn’t start work until 10
am their time because everything
was centralized
here in Lagos and there
was no thinking about the
Pan-African nature of our
businesses in the way we
run our offices. So, it was a
great challenge to get people’s
mind away from a
narrow focus to a broader
picture. As a leader, the first
thing was to envision.
Therefore, I came up with
the vision of being the Premier
and African reinsurer.
We had everything in
place, but we were not
thinking Pan-African and
International. Of course,
the most difficult situation
is to change people’s mindset
from where they have
been. This was very challenging,
but after 10 years,
not only have we succeeded
in becoming a truly Pan-
African and a well-respected
brand, we have internalized
the philosophy of being
Pan-African in all we do
as an organisation. Ten
years is such a short time
for that kind of transformation.
The achievements are
not just by our assessment,
but last year, we commissioned
a global perception
company to see what people
think about us and how
we are perceived. The international
standard score
is 73, but we achieved 79.
So, there is documentary
evidence that we really
transformed from being a
small Nigerian reinsurance
entity to a well-respected
Pan-African brand.
The insurance sector has
experienced a number of
reforms in the last 10
years. Which of these reforms
excites you most?
There have been great
transformations in our industry
over the last 10 years,
not because I am an actuary
but because it was an
If we don’t
reduce the
number of
insurance
companies in
this market, we
are not going
anywhere
anomaly that we didn’t
have actuaries operating in
this industry and we have
many of our offices writing
annuity business. We have
a lot of actuarial involvement,
which means we
have been more scientific,
more analytical in our approach
to risk management
and risk-taking. We have
come a long way off from
the ‘if I know you and you
know me, way we do business.’
In terms of insurance
penetration, life and nonlife
insurance, development
in health care products,
and digitalization, I
can say a lot has taken
place. This is the best time
to work in this country particularly
at Continental Re
because the opportunities
are immense. If we proceed
along the current trajectory,
we see a lot of new products
and a new approach
to doing things. We are at a
very exciting time where we
marry experience with technology,
and I believe the insurance
industry in this
country is set to take over.
What changes or transformation
do you expect to
see in the insurance industry?
I am going to say the
same thing I said in 2005,
‘if we don’t reduce the number
of insurance companies
in this market, we are not
•Oyetunji
going anywhere.’ My personal
belief is that 15 to 20
well-capitalised, skilled insurance
companies will
transform the industry. What
I will like to see is insurance
companies talking to
each other, looking for synergy,
and saying, let us
come together.
The biggest threat at the
moment is that global players
with big capital and all
that it takes to drive growth
are here and taking a position.
At the end of the day,
they will take away the expected
benefits. We can
clearly see the danger, having
seen the trend. Why we
have not seen many of them
at the moment is because
of the economic situation.
Once the situation improves,
the big players from
America and Europe will
come in and dominate, and
that is where the benefits
will go. If the global players
are based in the US, UK,
or Germany, they will take
the benefits to those places.
What I will like to see is
consolidation, having fewer
insurance companies
that have the requisite skills,
the analytics, the technology
and the products that
people want. That is what
will move us from the current
less than one per cent
penetration to at least double
of that size at first, then
we can get to five per cent,
10 per cent and more.
Imagine the kind of industry
we will have when the
penetration gets to five per
cent. There is a need for reinsurers
and more big players.
The only reason people
go outside to place their
risks is that we have exhausted
what we have domestically.
There is the local
content law that we
should take advantage of,
but because the capacity is
not there, we go outside,
and we cannot overexpose
our balance sheet to a single
risk. There is a limit to
what we can take. The recent
licensing of a new reinsurance
company by the
National Insurance Commission,
NAICOM, is a
welcome development.
I believe that we should
keep Nigerian premium
within Nigeria and African
premium within Africa. We
can use those premiums to
build hospitals, build roads,
and build other infrastructure
and technology within
our societies. Nobody will
bring dollars from the US
to build schools or roads for
us, let us keep what we
have within the economy.
Review of pension: Retirees beg Buhari,
say pensioners dying in penury
By Victor Ahiuma-
Young
PENSIONERS who
retired under the
Defined Benefits
Scheme, DBS, have
petitioned President
Muhammadu Buhari,
pleading with him to
intervene and order the
upward review of their
pension in line with the
1999 Constitution, saying
retirees are dying in
penury.
Under the National
Association of Nigerian
Pensioners, NANP, in the
petition copied among
others, Vice-President
Yemi Osinbajo, Senate
President, Senator
Ahmed Lawan, Speaker,
House
of
Representatives, Femi
Gbajabiamila, Secretary to
the Government of the
Federation, SGF, Mr.
Boss Mustapha, Head of
Service of the Federation,
Mrs Folashade Esan,
Minister of Labour and
Employment, Senator
Chris Ngige, and
Minister of Finance, Mrs
Zainab Ahmed, was
signed by NANP’s
President and General
Secretary, Ifeanyi Usifo
and Femi Adebayo,
respectively.
Among others, the
pensioners lamented that
“our problem revolves
around the undue delay
by you upon approval of
You're insensitive to our plight, S-West
pensioners tell FG, govs
By James
Ogunnaike
PENSIONERS in the
South-West states of
Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Osun,
Ondo and Lagos states,
have accused the Federal
Government and the state
governments in the zone
of turning a blind eye to
their suffering in spite of
using their productive
years to serve the
country.
Rising from their bimonthly
meeting in
Abeokuta, the Ogun State
capital, the pensioners,
specifically alleged that
the Federal Government
and governors of the
South-West region are not
sensitive to the plight of
pensioners.
The meeting was
attended by pensioners
from Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti,
Osun, Ondo and Lagos
states.
Briefing journalists after
the meeting, the Public
Relations Officer of NUP,
South-West zone,
Olusegun Abatan,
lamented that the federal
and some state
governments had refused
to implement the 33.4 per
cent pension increment
the new National
Minimum Wage in April
2019, almost two years
ago. This unwholesome
and inexplicable delay
which has inflicted untold
hardship on us is a clear
violation of the 1999
Nigerian Constitution, as
amended, particularly
section 173, sub section 1
to 3. For instance, section
173, sub section 3, states
that “Pensions shall be
reviewed every five years
or together with any
Federal Civil Service
salary reviews, whichever
is earlier.
“The last pension
review in the public
service of the federation
was done on 1st July, 2015
over five years ago and
the next one was due by
1st July 2020, over eight
months ago, which is
contrary to the
constitutional provisions.
The present state of high
level of inflation in the
economy has seriously
eroded the purchasing
power of our current
pension.
“Some of our members
have passed on while
waiting for this long
overdue upward review
of pension. Why is the
Federal Government
treating us this way? Why
is the FG treating us very
unfairly compared to its
treatment of our
counterparts who are still
in service? Is it because
since 2010.
According to him: “As
I speak with you, Ondo
State is owing its
pensioners from
November 2020 to date
and we want to appeal to
Governor Rotimi
Akeredolu to address the
issue of non-payment of
pensions of our members
in Ondo State promptly.
We don’t want to believe
that the pension of our
members is being used
for non-essential pension
matters.
“Ogun State, like other
states in the nation, has
violated and still violating
the Constitutional
provisions of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria 1999,
section 210(3) where it is
stated that pension
should be increased
concomitantly as wages of
workers are increased.
“Ogun State
Government has refused
to implement the pension
increase of our members
since 2010. I’m talking of
the 33.4 per cent pension
increase.
“In Osun State, the
payment of gratuity is
done to selected
pensioners rather than
all pensioners. We want
we are a set of hapless
and powerless old men
and women who, because
we are no longer in
service, cannot down
tools or go on strike to
compel the Federal
Government to do the
needful by complying
with the relevant portion
of the Nigerian
Constitution? We don’t
deserve this kind of
unjust treatment at our
old age, having served
this nation meritoriously
in the past in our youthful
age.”
According to them:
“Having drawn your
attention to our plight, we
implore you to urgently
intervene to save us from
further hardship and
even untimely death. We
are appealing to you to
kindly approve the white
paper on pension review
and awaited circular on
pension increase to
enable the relevant
ministries, departments
and agencies, MDAs, of
g o v e r n m e n t
expeditiously implement
the approved review in
their respective
establishments without
any further delay,
hopefully, before the end
of April, 2021.”
The petition added that
“your prompt action in
this regard will be highly
appreciated by the
generality of Nigerian
pensioners.”
the Governor of Osun
State, Gboyega Oyetola
to please remove this
selectivity in payment of
gratuity to pensioners in
the state.”
The pensioners also
condemned the bill
seeking to remove the
minimum wage from the
exclusive legislative list
to the concurrent
legislative list, saying
“it is quite insulting and
out of common sense and
logic that at every point
in time, workers and
pensioners are left to
bear the brunt of missgovernance
in Nigeria.
They also aligned with
the Nigeria Labour
Congress, NLC, on the
demand that minimum
wage should not be
removed from the
exclusive list to the
concurrent list.
All pensioners in the
whole of the federation
are in support of this
because we know that if
this happens to workers,
it will be worse for
pensioners because at
that level, the governors
will do nothing than to
start intimidating and
punishing workers and
they will start giving
them whatever they want
to give them.