Nigerians incurred a whopping financial loss of up to N1.5 trillion in the last six years, data from the Nigerian Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has revealed.
The losses, recorded from 2017 to 2022, were lost to fire outbreaks, accidents, thefts, property and asset damages, riots, vandalisation, natural disasters and cost exposure to injuries, legal liabilities, and deaths.
The year-on-year breakdown of these losses is as follows: In 2017, they incurred N186 billion; in 2018, N252 billion; and in 2019, N225 billion. At the height of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021, the losses had grown to 247 billion and N337 billion, respectively. In 2022, the figure dropped slightly to N318 billion in financial losses.
To better understand the magnitude of these losses to Nigerian residents and businesses, who were grappling with economic recession, slowed economic growth and stressful inflationary pressures through the six years under review, which amounted to about 24% of the Nigerian government’s budget N6.25 trillion in 2022.
Indeed, the millions of Nigerian residents and businesses who recorded these losses were able to recover from them as a result of insurance.
According to NAICOM, Nigerian insurance companies paid the victims of these losses N1.5 trillion in insurance claims, thereby avoiding the enormous financial losses that had hitherto threatened the stability.
