Niger Insurance adds value to investment plan

Niger Insurance Plc has improved the benefits of its Niger Flexible Investment Assurance Plan as part of efforts to make more Nigerians embrace life insurance and ensure that the industry contributes its expected quota to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.
A statement on Sunday quoted the company’s Managing Director, Mr. Kolapo Adedeji, as saying that since it was established, life insurance had contributed more to premium in countries with high level of insurance penetration.He said Niger Insurance was making efforts to address the observed defects of the typical life insurance policy in the country.
Unlike the typical life assurance policy, which becomes lapsed after some period of non-payment of premium and in which case all benefits attached to the policy may be lost, he stated that the new policy does not lapse once the first premium has been paid.
Adedeji said while the amount of premium payable under NIFIAP was not fixed as the policyholder was free to invest in the policy at regular intervals as their financial circumstances improved, the premium could be paid at any time during the period of the policy and the frequency of payment was at the discretion of the policyholder.
NIFIAP, according to him, consists of an endowment element as well as an investment element.He explained that a proportion of each premium paid will be utilised to buy a single premium with profit endowment assurance, while the balance of each premium paid will be invested in a deposit administration account with annual guaranteed compound interest.
Adedeji also pointed out that in one policy, several sums assured could be purchased at different ages according to the ability of the life assured.He said that additional sums assured were not necessarily purchased at regular intervals but at such times convenient for the life assured within the period of cover.
The Niger Insurance boss maintained that the policy is beneficial because if the policyholder dies before maturity age, the addition of the accumulated sums assured under the endowment assurance policy and the balance on the deposit administration account shall become payable.
He stated that on the death of the life assured before the maturity date, the beneficiary may opt to convert the death benefits to a family income benefit, which becomes payable annually in arrears from the date of death until the maturity date of the policy.
Adedeji said the policyholders were allowed to make periodic withdrawals from the deposit administration account without being penalised for doing so.
He further emphasised that the policy allows the assured to accumulate a target saving plan at his convenience to prepare for the future, while the benefits payable under the policy are not easily eroded by inflation as is the case with traditional endowment life policies