Dr. Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, has encouraged West African insurance providers to restructure the sector for global competitiveness.
She gave a speech during the 50th anniversary celebration and educational conference of the West African Insurance Companies Association in Lagos State, Nigeria.
Repositioning the insurance sector in West Africa for global competitiveness was the conference’s focus.
As an optimist, we are inspired to believe in a new dawn, utilizing technology breakthroughs and a positive paradigm shift focused and ready to handle the projected rise in demand and unexplored side, she added.
“I therefore urge the delegates here present to deliberate and recommend ways of repositioning the insurance industry in West Africa for global competitiveness.”
She pointed out that the goal of the African Continental Free Trade Area was to strengthen Africa’s collective voice and policy space in international trade negotiations, facilitate the movement of people to deepen economic integration and prosperity on the continent, and accelerate intra-African trade by providing a single market for goods and services.
Ahmed emphasized the importance of creating a top-notch insurance database in order to give a comprehensive overview of the activities of the sector in the sub-region.
Eddie Efekoha, the vice president of WAICA, pointed out that the organization represents insurance, reinsurance, and insurance brokerage firms in West Africa.
He said that over time, WAICA has given the area a platform to advance its residents’ understanding of insurance, exchange commercial information, and build relationships with other insurance industry participants in the area.
“It is in furtherance of these noble objectives that we have packaged this conference to address the issue of rating of insurance companies in West Africa to reposition them for global competitiveness in the full realisation that insurance is a global business,” he said.
The resource people had been carefully chosen to handle the subject in a way that offered all shades and viewpoints, he claimed, while the conference’s topic had caught its ideas and expectations.
