Worries for players as Nigeria’s lossadjusting business faces extinction
the loss-adjusting arm of the country’s insurance industry after over 40-years of existence is facing imminent extinction.
this is following the lack of financial resources to attract new and younger players into the industry, while existing players are aging without same speed of replacement.
Players in the business, under the umbrella body of institute of Loss Adjusters of nigeria ilan, individually lament being squeezed by their underwriting partners.
According to them, they are paid outdated rates; owed huge debts, and dropped for their foreign counterparts for the same services they have competence.
Part of their worries are negligence by the authorities and leadership of the nigerian insurers Association
(nia) whom they believe should to look into their plights.
in this vein, the business is becoming unattractive for young professionals since the industry could not pay attractive wages or offer career growth paths that is in tandem with other arms of the insurance industry.
However, dipo Olanrewaju, the new president of ilan has said his major focus will be save the life of the institute and position it for relevance, stating that the challenges before the new executive is enormous.
His acceptance speech after his election during the institute’s Annual general Meeting in Lagos focused on measures to attract new membership, grow interest of exiting members, tackle quackery, review scale of fees, pursue institute’s charter and conclude the body’s constitution among others.
“it goes without saying that our strength lies in our membership. Unfortunately, even within the institute, we do not have records of individuals engaged in our members’ firms. whilst we are interested in opening the window to prospective external members, staff of all members’ firms need to register with the institute for good order, proper planning and development.”
On membership, he said, “Our institute cannot progress at the pace we want unless our members take time off their tight schedules to attend meetings. it is indeed our collective responsibility to make some sacrifices. in the past, the CEO monthly meeting was active but today, attendance at meetings is nothing to compared with what it used to be. we urge every member to be intentional about attending our meetings and events. On our part, the executive arm/council will do everything to renew the interest of individuals in the activities of the institute.”
For quackery. i call them unregistered loss adjuster. these individuals go by other names such as consultants and surveyors. they are not expected to adjust claims but they are engaged by underwriters. this administration will not hesitate to report such underwriters. we shall strive to eliminate the unregistered loss adjusters in the industry.
On the institute’s charter, he said efforts have been made in this direction by the past administrations to obtain the institute Charter. we all agree that this is long overdue and we will continue to direct efforts towards having our institute Charter.