Nigerian journalists have been urged to move beyond conventional reporting of disasters and public policy announcements and make insurance, risk awareness and accountability central to their coverage of economic, social and healthcare issues.
The call was made by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of SanlamAllianz Life Insurance Nigeria Ltd, Dr Femi Oyetunji; President of the Healthcare Providers Association of Nigeria, Dr Augustine Aipoh; Professor Adepoju Tejumaiye of the University of Lagos; and maritime and insurance lawyer, Dr Omogbai Omo-Eboh, SAN, at a two-day journalism workshop in Lagos.
The workshop, organised by Insurance Publication Ltd (IPL) and sponsored by the Africa Re Foundation (ARF), was held under the theme, “The Universe of Insurance and Journalism: Risk Everywhere, in Everything.”
Speaking on “Nigeria’s Insurance Gap: The Risks We Carry, the Protection We Ignore and the Economic Opportunities We Are Missing,” Oyetunji said Nigeria’s low level of insurance protection exposed households, businesses and government to avoidable financial shocks.
He said insurance should be viewed not merely as a financial product or an industry concern but as part of the country’s economic infrastructure, arguing that inadequate protection could undermine the gains of economic development.
Oyetunji said the central question was not whether Nigerians faced risks but who would bear the financial consequences when those risks materialised.
“In a well-insured economy, part of that burden is transferred in advance to organised pools of capital. In a poorly insured economy, the burden remains with the individual, the family, the business, the community or, ultimately, government,” he said.
He noted that Nigeria’s insurance market was growing, citing National Insurance Commission figures showing gross premium written rising from N1.6 trillion in 2024 to N2.3 trillion in 2025, representing a 45 per cent year-on-year increase.
Despite the growth, he said insurance penetration remained below one per cent of GDP, leaving a substantial proportion of the country’s economic value exposed to uninsured losses.
According to him, the gap represented both a vulnerability and an economic opportunity, as expanding insurance coverage could deepen protection while creating opportunities across underwriting, broking, actuarial services, claims management, technology and other professional areas.
Oyetunji said insurance protection needed to be tailored to the risks confronting different sectors, including agriculture, healthcare, construction, manufacturing, transport, financial services, technology, SMEs and households.
He particularly highlighted business interruption insurance, noting that the destruction of physical assets was not the only risk facing businesses after a disaster.
“Salaries may continue. Rent, interest, security and other fixed costs may remain. Customers may migrate to competitors. Suppliers may lose orders. The physical asset can eventually be restored while the business itself has already failed,” he said.
The SanlamAllianz Life chairman also said insurance should form part of household financial planning, noting that the death of a breadwinner, serious illness, accident or loss of property could wipe out years of savings and investment.
He described insurance as “a form of balance-sheet protection”, particularly through life, motor, property and personal accident covers.
Oyetunji also identified flooding and other catastrophes as examples of how uninsured private losses could quickly become public financial problems, forcing families to deplete savings, businesses to borrow or close and government to provide relief and reconstruction funding.
He said insurance and reinsurance could provide pre-arranged capital for recovery, although insurance should complement rather than replace risk prevention.
On the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act 2025 (NIIRA 2025), Oyetunji said the legislation provided an opportunity to strengthen the sector through stronger capital and solvency requirements, risk-based supervision, compulsory insurance, digitisation and enhanced policyholder protection.
He, however, stressed that regulation alone would not create an insurance culture.
“NIIRA can provide the framework; the industry must provide the experience that makes Nigerians believe in it,” he said.
Oyetunji urged insurers to build public confidence through relevant products, understandable policy documents, accessible distribution and fair and prompt settlement of valid claims.
He also challenged journalists to make insurance relevant to mainstream reporting, noting that building collapses, floods, factory fires, road accidents, cyberattacks, agricultural losses, aviation incidents and the death of breadwinners all had insurance dimensions.
“Journalists are therefore not simply observers of the insurance industry. They are translators of risk for the public,” he said.
Similarly, Tejumaiye, who delivered the keynote address on “Risk Everywhere in Everything: Bridging Information Gaps and Financial Resilience,” urged journalists to change the way they report disasters by moving from event-based reporting to risk-based reporting.
He said reports of floods, fires, road crashes and health emergencies should examine not only what happened but also the financial risks involved, the preventive measures that could have been taken and the role of insurance in mitigating losses.
Tejumaiye said insurance was fundamentally an information and communication challenge before becoming an actuarial product, noting that many Nigerians remained unaware of the financial consequences of uninsured risks.
He said journalists could help citizens move from simply knowing that disasters occurred to understanding their vulnerability and the measures available to reduce potential losses.
According to him, the mass media had three key roles in risk management: surveillance, strategic framing and mobilisation.
He said surveillance required journalists to identify and consistently warn the public about emerging environmental, road safety, health, cyber and economic risks, while strategic framing involved explaining the risks, available mitigation measures and mechanisms for transferring financial losses.
Mobilisation, he added, involved directing consumers towards licensed insurance operators, regulatory channels and appropriate avenues for resolving claims-related disputes.
Tejumaiye proposed an “ABC Framework” for insurance communication, comprising Awareness, Building Trust and Campaign Channels.
He said journalists should simplify technical insurance concepts, report verified claims payments, expose fraudulent operators and use platforms such as podcasts, infographics, WhatsApp explainers and local radio programmes to reach underserved groups.
He also called for stronger collaboration among insurers, NAICOM, the Nigerian Insurers Association, media organisations and researchers to improve insurance literacy.
Meanwhile, Omo-Eboh called for stronger enforcement of compulsory insurance through the integration of insurance compliance into government licensing, permits and approval systems.
Speaking on “Legal and Integrative Framework for National Insurance Policy: How to Make Insurance Work for the Individual, Government and the Economy,” he said compulsory insurance should not remain a requirement “on paper”.
He proposed that vehicle licence renewal should require real-time verification of motor third-party insurance, while building approvals and certificates of completion should be linked to appropriate builders’ liability and public building insurance.
He also advocated evidence of marine cargo insurance before imported goods are cleared and proof of group life insurance where applicable before employers receive relevant regulatory approvals.
“Where government controls access to a service or sector, proof of valid insurance should be a condition for access,” he said.
Omo-Eboh said insurance compliance should be integrated into digital government platforms to enable authorities to verify policy numbers before issuing approvals, renewing licences or releasing permits.
He identified public distrust caused by delayed or disputed claims, weak enforcement, poor consumer education, low purchasing power, limited access among informal businesses and inadequate underwriting data as some of the factors constraining insurance penetration.
He said NIIRA 2025, signed into law on August 6, 2025, had introduced higher minimum capital requirements, including N15 billion for non-life insurers, N10 billion for life insurers and N35 billion for reinsurers.
The lawyer said stronger capital requirements and risk-based capital could enhance insurers’ capacity to pay large claims and absorb economic shocks.
Omo-Eboh also highlighted compulsory covers under the law, including motor third-party, group life, marine cargo, aviation, petroleum and gas, healthcare professional indemnity, credit life and insurance of government assets and employees.
He urged journalists to monitor compliance by government agencies and private operators while investigating delayed or unpaid claims, regulatory failures, misleading advertising and unethical practices.
“Insurance penetration grows where understanding grows, journalism is the bridge between policy documents and everyday decisions,” he said.
On healthcare, Aipoh urged journalists to move beyond creating awareness about health issues and become catalysts for accountability and improved healthcare delivery.
Delivering a paper titled, “Beyond Awareness: The Journalist As a Catalyst for Better Healthcare Delivery in Nigeria,” Aipoh said Nigeria’s diverse healthcare needs, unequal access to quality services, high out-of-pocket expenditure, inadequate infrastructure and health workforce, misinformation and low insurance coverage made informed journalism particularly important.
He said journalists occupied a critical position at the intersection of citizens, healthcare providers and institutions, with the capacity to influence public understanding, trust and the issues prioritised by policymakers.
“The opportunity is to move from reporting what happened to helping society understand what must change,” he said.
Aipoh said health insurance should not be regarded merely as a mechanism for paying hospital bills, but as a means of managing the health and financial risks associated with illness, accidents, chronic diseases, emergency medical costs and loss of income.
He urged journalists to translate technical insurance concepts such as capitation, fee-for-service, benefit packages, accreditation, claims, pre-authorisation, co-payment and referral into practical information that ordinary Nigerians could understand.
Rather than simply reporting the existence of a benefit package, he said journalists should ask what the package actually covered and whether insured patients could obtain the promised services at accredited facilities.
He urged reporters to investigate the entire patient journey, from enrolment and financing to accreditation, treatment, claims and outcomes.
“The real test of a policy is not its announcement but its effect on the patient,” he said.
Aipoh also warned journalists against amplifying unverified health claims, including fake cures, misleading medical advertisements, vaccine misinformation and dangerous self-medication advice.
He urged journalists to “verify” before “amplifying” and to scrutinise government and institutional claims by comparing policy commitments with evidence of implementation.
“If government promises coverage, what percentage is actually covered? If there is programme expansion, where has it reached? If funding is allocated, how was it used?” he asked.
He further urged journalists to investigate whether accredited healthcare facilities were providing promised services and to seek responses from relevant institutions when patients lodged complaints.
“Journalism should close the gap between announcement and evidence,” he said.
Aipoh also called for accountability journalism without sensationalism, urging journalists to verify facts, give institutions and service providers the opportunity to respond, investigate underlying causes and conduct follow-up reports to establish whether identified problems had been addressed.
He said effective healthcare financing could reduce the economic burden of illness, noting that medical expenses could deplete family savings, reduce productivity and push households into poverty.
The speakers collectively emphasised that insurance reporting should move beyond industry announcements and premium figures to examine how risk affects citizens, businesses and institutions.
They urged journalists to ask whether affected assets were insured, whether the cover was adequate, what exclusions applied, whether valid claims had been settled and who ultimately bore the cost of uninsured losses.
Oyetunji said the ultimate objective should be to make protection a normal feature of economic and social life in Nigeria.
“Nigeria cannot build a larger, more resilient economy while leaving most people, assets and enterprises to absorb major losses alone,” he said.
He added: “The real promise of insurance: not paperwork, not technical compliance, but continuity after loss.”
“Risk is everywhere. Nigeria’s opportunity is to make protection just as widespread,” he said.
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