Insurance agents are currently leaving insurance marketing jobs in droves to secure better opportunities in lucrative sectors, such as, real estate, banking, ICT, agriculture, commerce and industry, among others, LEADERSHIP learnt.
Their decision is connected to the meagre emolument packages they are getting from their respective insurance companies as most of them were not trained by their companies, even as the salary packages are unattractive while there is equally no pension plans for most of them.
Coupled with the difficulties in marketing insurance products and services in the grassroots because of the religious nature of Nigerians who believe God will not allow bad things to happen to them, they are less motivated in the insurance industry, hence, seeking greener pastures elsewhere where they feel comfortable.
Post Covid-19, there are insinuations that about 30 to 40 per cent of insurance agents have since abandoned the sector for other lucrative sectors to make ends meet.
Confirming this development at the 2023 Association of Registered Insurance Agents of Nigeria (ARIAN) managers’ conference, with the theme: ‘Navigating Regulatory Frameworks and Compliance Requirements to Ensure Sustainable Growth’ in Lagos,
The national president, ARIAN, Kazeem Odewunmi wasn’t happy with the migration of agents to other markets, especially real estate.
Calling for motivation from insurance companies to entice agents and stop the remaining ones from leaving the industry, he called for introduction of robust retirement plans for agents, stressing that, it is disheartening to observe agents work in an insurance company for a decade without a retirement benefit plan.
Disclosing that the insurance agency network has now become a market where people from other sectors recruit marketers,he stressed that many trained agents have been lost to sectors such as real estate, banking, pension, while others travelled out of the country.
He called on the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to look into the plights of agents, to enable the sub-sector to sustain its contributions to the insurance industry.
Odewunmi also appealed to management of insurance companies to esteem agents, as they contribute greatly to their fortune.
Noting that about 100,000 insurance agents were in the country, he called for more agents to effectively service the over 200 million population the country has.
Director-general, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Mrs. Yetunde Ilori, in a paper entitled: ‘Navigating Regulatory Frameworks and Compliance Requirements Through Administrative Perspective,’ presented at the event, noted that, stakeholders in the insurance value change should ensure full compliance with the rating guide as agreed upon by all practitioners to ensure all line of insurance business are underwritten profitably.
Ilori, who was represented by the director of Operations, NIA, Lanre Ojuola, charged agents to give priority to training and retraining, stressing that, fresh agents should be encouraged with incentive, while the older ones should be recognised for their contribution.
A member of panel of discussant and staffer of Custodian Life Assurance Limited Mrs. Funmi Saka, urged agent managers to ensure quality training is given to fresh agents and that the managers should exhibit the act of leadership by doing what they instruct their subjects to do.v
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