The Executive Chairman, Prestige Insurance Brokers Limited, Prince (Dr) Feyisayo Soyewo has said that the COVID-19 pandemic has helped corporate institutions to retool their operational strategies, leading to higher profitability and easier ways of doing things virtually and getting results.
Soyewo stated this while delivering an opening remark as the Conference Chairman of the 6th National Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) with the theme: COVID-19 Impact on Financial Inclusion: Opportunities for Insurance and Pension Sectors.
He said that it was heartwarming that many individuals and operators have taken the whole pandemic experience as an opportunity for a paradigm shift in all undertakings.
” The theme of the conference cannot be more apt than now, when the entire world is just heaving a sigh of relieve from the ruinous impact of the pandemic.
” It makes little news that the pandemic disrupted the usual work culture and affected every facet of human endeavors ever experienced in recent history,” Soyewo said.
According to him, the financial services sector of which the insurance and pensions are critical players also had their fair share of the impact of the pandemic.
The Insurance broker chairman noted that for the insurance industry, aside from the long cessation of work, necessitating remote working conditions, the pandemic led to the need to review rates and revisit some of the policy conditions and exclusions earlier permissible for some insurances.
“I want to believe that the pension sector also had its own side of the pandemic which they would be able to relate to us more explicitly at this auspicious forum.
” We must all come to terms with the fact that change is the only permanent thing in life and those who are resistant to change would be changed by change ultimately, ” the broker said.
Soyewo commended NAIPCO for its very effective reportage of events, particularly relating to the insurance industry, as he has watched the association grow over the years.
He noted that NAIPCO has continued to record phenomenal leap in its quest to create relevance for its members, as well as become a strong voice in issues of advocacy, particularly in the nation’s financial ecosystem.
The Chairman, NAIPCO, Mr Chuks Okonta said that the conference, which is in its 6th edition, is one of those avenues the association is contributing its quotas to the growth and development of the two critical sectors it covers, which are; insurance and pension sectors.
” Today, we, as journalists, are not only watching and reporting, but participating actively in reshaping the two industries and propelling them to growth.
“The last two years have been extremely hard for Nigerians, Africans and the world at large due to the invasion of the deadly coronavirus pandemic across the world and Nigeria inclusive rewrites the business environment template. Human interface was limited, most operations went online and those who were not technologically savvy were left in the dustbin of the past, as the world matches on with full speed. Though businesses closed shops, people died and sources of livelihood shrank as a result of the pandemic, but it opened up several opportunities in other areas of businesses that may not have been explored if not for the Covid-19. Financial sector operations become more sophisticated as face-to-face interaction went into oblivion, hence, projecting the human and machine interactions,” Okonta said.
According to the NAIPCO Chairman, the development created an opportunity for both sectorial players to increase their awareness and widened their tentacle to capture this niche market.
Okonta said to this end, the association assembled experienced human capital to do justice to the theme of the conference.
He however appreciated all members of the 2021 Conference and Editorial Committees who were both instrumental to put the conference together, sponsors who made the August gathering a reality and resources persons and eminent personalities who gave their time in spite of their tight schedule.
