FG to Pay N15bn Premium on MDAs’ Life Insurance

• FG to Pay N15bn Premium on MDAs’ Life Insurance

The Federal Government has allocated N15bn to settle the insurance premium of employees in its Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the 2018 financial period.

The President, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, Mrs. Funmi Babington-Ashaye, said this during the institute’s business outlook seminar with the theme, ‘Economic policies of the government in 2018: Issues, challenges and prospects for the insurance industry,’ in Lagos.

She said, “Considering the fact that the government has allocated N181.19bn to the payment of pensions and gratuities of public servants, while N15bn has also been set aside to meet the MDAs’ life assurance premium obligations, the insurance sector should experience increased business momentum.

“On the whole, the insurance industry, in my view, has more to cheer from the budget. In other words, the business outlook for the insurance industry is mixed but very promising. As players and risk managers, we need to open our inner minds and take those business decisions that will help us to reposition the industry in the unfolding 2018 business year.”

Babington-Ashaye noted that the 2018 budget of consolidation was designed to build on the achievements of the 2017 fiscal year in which Nigeria strategically exited economic recession.

To further spur economic activities, she said the government planned to spend N8.61tn, while its expected revenue from all sources was estimated to be N6.60tn, leaving a funding gap of N2.01tn.

She observed that the 2018 budget was largely a deficit budget, implying that the government would need to borrow from local and international institutions to augment the expected shortfall in the budget.