Within
a relatively reasonable short period of time, The Gambia is going to be the
insurance capital of Africa, President Adama Barrow has said.
The
Gambian leader said with the potential macroeconomic stability that the country
enjoys under his administration, The Gambia is going to be a major offshore
centre of insurance on the African continent.
In
a statement read on his behalf by Mai Fatty, minister of the Interior, at the
opening ceremony of the 39th annual general meeting and educational conference
of the West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA) yesterday at the
Kairaba Beach Hotel in Kololi, President Barrow said The Gambia is poised to
becoming “the Smiling Coast of many industries that would lead the growth and
development, and progress in Africa”.
Commenting
on the theme of the sub-regional conference - ‘Regional Integration Through
Uniform Compliance’, the Gambian leader said if the West African sub-region is
to develop, there is a need to harmonise economic practices.
“The
business of insurance is an international one, therefore, there is need for
uniform regulation which will promote business sharing and exchange and
consequently facilitate trade and integration within the sub-region,” he said.
He
told about 200 participants in the conference that it was important to have an
in-depth understanding of the unique business processes within West Africa to
harmonise the practices effectively.
“There
is also the need to bear in mind the peculiar nature of various insurance
markets such as the governing structures of the various regulatory frameworks,”
Barrow said.
Makaireh
Badjan, president of the Insurance Association of The Gambia (IAG), expressed
gratitude to the executive committee of WAICA for giving The Gambia the
opportunity to host the conference.
He
said the conference offers a very good opportunity to dialogue and come up with
effective and efficient mechanisms that would foster regional integration
through harmonisation of the insurance industry practices.
The
deputy governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia, Oumie Samba-Savage, said the
promotion of regional integration for structural transformation remains an
important economic and political goal in Africa at large and the sub-region in
particular.
“Therefore,
as regulator of the insurance industry, we[the Central Bank Gambia] are even
more committed to ensuring the realisation of the objectives of regional
integration in general and a harmonised insurance legislation in particular,”
she said.
WAICA
President Rotomi Fashola said WAICA believes and supports the regional
integration of the head of states and governments of ECOWAS.
“Consequently,
our annual educational conference has become a forum for advocating for
critical developmental issues, especially the regional cooperation agenda for
the good of the insurance business and the ultimate benefits of countries in
the sub-region,” he said.
“It
is therefore not by accident that the main thrust of our discourse over the
years has been the need to embrace regional integration as a concept of
sustainable development. This year’s
conference is no exception.”
The
WAICA president said the need for harmonised insurance practices in West Africa
is topical and the conference would broaden the perspective of the participants
and instigate resourceful engagement in specific areas.
William
Coker, secretary general of WAICA, said the bane of the insurance industry in
West Africa is lack of awareness of insurance and insurance policies.
In
view of this, he said, WAICA secretariat is working on an insurance education
project that seeks to get insurance as a standalone, examinable subject of
study at secondary schools in WAICA member countries – Gambia, Ghana, Liberia,
Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
“Indeed
in a very direct way, the more the subject of insurance is studied the more
awareness is created among our population,” he said. “And once the awareness is created, half the
battle of the insurance companies would be fought and won.”
The
39th annual general meeting and educational conference of WAICA being hosted in
The Gambia is an opportunity that allows insurance industry professionals and
all other stakeholders to interact, network and share experiences on innovation
and opportunities to develop the insurance industry.
