The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel, on Monday said the Nigerian Insurance Industry overall capitalisation has grown to N337 billion.

The commissioner announced this while presenting a keynote address at the 2015 Maiden Insurance Mega Conference in Abuja.

According to Daniel, the sector’s capitalisation grew from N98 billion in 2007 to N337 billion in 2010.

Daniel also said that the Gross Premium Income (GPI) increased to N303 billion in 2014 from N100 billion in 2007.

He said that the professionalism exhibited by practitioners in the sector contributed to the growth and making Nigeria the second largest insurance market in Africa.

According to him, the Industry rose from the fifth position it occupied in 2007 to second best in 2014.

He said the reasons for recording the tremendous growth in the industry was largely due to effective utilisation of all opportunities created by legislation through appropriate guidelines of National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

“Now, we have better compliance with insurance legislation both by operators and consumers as there is substantial increase in the level of compliance especially, in compulsory insurance,” he said.

Daniel urged the federal government to constantly emphasise the importance of risk management through insurance mechanism.

“The industry has potential to be a major driver for advancing national development. As a matter of fact, for a country to develop its economic endowments, it must first have supportive insurance industry,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the conference was organised by Insurance Industry Consultative Council (IICC) with the theme ‘Developing Insurance Business for National Growth’.

The council members are the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) and Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria (ILAN).

•Photo shows Fola Daniel.