Growing up in Nigeria in the 80’s, the impression most of my mates had about insurance was visions of burning houses or smashed up cars for which there would be no insurance claims paid.

It’s not like it happened to me or anyone I know, but a lot of us grew up with that idea that “insurance doesn’t pay”.

If you add that to other ideas like “everything in life is 50/50”, and “God is my protector”, it’s reasonable to see why there’s speculation that 80% of Nigerians have no use or knowledge of insurance in whatever form.

In my family I only know one person who uses insurance, and both of my grandfathers had football teams for children.

That is a lot of family members who think they know what insurance is, but have never asked questions beyond the surface.

What is insurance anyway? And why should a Nigerian man or woman in 2023 be asking about business practices that are as old as the industrial revolution?

Those are some questions that we shall be tackling with the column over the course of the next year.

When the average Nigerian hears “insurance”, they think of the risk of death, accidents, fire, and property damage.

These are not pleasant things to talk about and it’s understandable why a 40 year old man like me wouldn’t want to contemplate his mortality.

But what if there’s another face to insurance that we haven’t been educated on?

What if insurance isn’t just a tool to manage life threatening risk?

What if people have figured out a way for insurance to become a savings tool?

What if people have figured out a way for insurance to be used as an investment tool?

What if people have figured out a way to use insurance to save money and invest money for the future without losing your capital?

If you could get all your money back and more at the end of the period, would that change the calculation of “everything is 50/50 in life?”.

And would it make it worth your while to put something aside “last last” even though “God is my protector”?

These and many more are the issues we’ll tackle in the column where we examine the changing face of insurance in Nigeria.