We seem to be in a season when fires razing down markets across the country and destroying materials worth billions of naira is making the headlines in the news media. From the Kano market fire to Akesan market in Oyo State, the Plank markets in Lagos and the Sabo market fire in Sagamu, Ogun State, it appears the ravenous instinct of the dreaded inferno is daily hitting the fortunes of our people. At the aftermath of these fires are material losses and tales of woes to tell, compounding the plight of Nigerians.
My concern is really not about the painful aftermath effect of the fires but the government’s funny response in promising succor to the victims after it had happed. The utterances of State Governors after such incidents often indicate mere emotions and playing to the gallery as many politicians often won’t to do. Instead of the paltry sums of money usually promised those who suffer losses that in most cases ends where the promises are made, the government or governors should be more strategic in their approach to solving and ameliorating the fire problem through Insurance. This is what is done in most advanced countries. Encouraging all markets to be insured would be a sure device against losses due to fire when it occurs. Insurance exists to bears risks and pays premiums and indeed they are paying. They pay more reasonable compensation to victims after the incidents far above the “peanuts” or hand out that comes from governments or governors to victims. We must do away with this tradition of shutting the gates after the horse has bolted away! One way for the government to preserve wealth and ensure social stability is to imbibe insurance as a risk transfer mechanism, but many have not seen it that way. With its enormous power and influence, the people cannot be cheated out in any transaction that has an effective involvement of government as a party. More so, the fear that most people exhibit about insurance not paying a claim is today a thing of the past given the stringent regulatory prescriptions in the industry. No company, I repeat, no insurance company would want its license revoked on the bases of denial of a genuine claim. Furthermore, to ameliorate the fear that the policy terms and conditions for insurance are difficult to understand, Insurance Brokers who are the professional intermediaries are there to be engaged by any prospect, without paying a dime. Their roles in the insurance value chain are akin to that of the Lawyer in insurance transactions. They make insurance clients understand the insurance policies, obtain cheaper rates and help them to pursue their claims when a loss occurs. Wise persons and institutions use insurance to protect their wealth against theft, fire, flood, accidents and other calamities that are inevitably attached to human living.
So, back to my issue on poor government response on fires, I insist that if Governors imbibe insurance in their respective states, it will surely be to their good as state funds from which they often dip their hands to pay victims of calamities would be freed and now used for other pressing development strides of their states, making such states vibrant economically on the long run. Only the wise ones yield to this admonition.
Tope Adaramola is a PR practitioner
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