‘Flood, Dana Air Crash, Major Disasters’

An insurance operator, Mr Eddy Efekoha, on Tuesday identified the Dana Air crash in Lagos and the flooding across the country as the two events that jolted the insurance industry in 2012. The Managing Director, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, Efekoha, said in Lagos that the two events shocked the industry because they were least expected.

He said that the incidents were least expected because Nigeria had not been identified as a natural disaster zone.

He said that the events reduced the premium the industry would have earned in 2012 as well as increased its claims portfolio. “In the past, most insurers will look at special risk of flood as just flood from leaking tanks, overhead tanks and rain water,” he said. He said that the recent flooding showed that anybody could be affected. “This means that a risk is with us and we must take all the measures to plan for it and to manage it effectively.

“It is a wake-up call on insurance practitioners and operators to strategise on how to tackle risks arising from such in 2013,” he said. Our  correspondent recalled that the Dana aircraft crashed into a residential area on June 3, 2012 at Iju, Lagos, killing many residents, the passengers and the crew members. Also, the release of water from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon, coupled with heavy downpour, caused flooding in most coastal areas nationwide.