The Nigerian Council
of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has called for the provision of adequate preventive measures against risk of fire disaster in the country.
The call was make by the Council’s president, Mr Ayodapo Shoderu, while speaking with journalists in Lagos recently.
He expressed shock over the various fire incidents reported in the country within a few months and called on governments and individuals to put in place adequate preventive measures against any re-occurrence of such fire disasters.
The NCRIB boss said the association feels pain on the losses of Nigerians  through fire disasters, stressing that the association wished the victims had put in place adequate insurance cover to cushion the effect of the losses.
He said the economy can grow with adequate insurance cover to take care of losses, adding that if a loss occurs and insurance has been purchased it puts the individual in better stead as if no loss had occurred.
But where no insurance has been purchased, it causes a reduction in wealth by the amount of value of those insurable assets.
The insurance guru reiterated the need for compulsory insurance policy for all Nigerians especially for public edifices and markets as stipulated in the legal provision under Insurance Act 1997 sections 64 and 65 of insurance of public buildings.
He said many losses of merchandise and property in many commodity markets in the country to fire disasters could be better prevented and mitigated if the victims had embraced insurance policies.
The Association’s president said the market forces had deprived many people a clear means of livehood and survival.
He said the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has continued to dwindle as a result of these fire disasters which deplete the national wealth as most of the victims constitute a significant  chunk of entrepreneurial class who are supposedly great contributors to the GDP.