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Cameroon: Insurers Worried Over Ignorance of Insurance Policy
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The Post (Buea)
16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008
Joe Dinga Pefok
The Association of Insurance Companies in Cameroon, ASAC, is worried that many Cameroonians appear not to realise or bother about the importance of obtaining an insurance policy.
ASAC President, Jean Victor Ngue, expressed this concern while briefing reporters in Douala on May 9, at the end of the association's annual General Assembly.The General Assembly had as its main objective to examine the execution of its 2006 budget. It reportedly expressed satisfaction with the 2006 finance account, which recorded a surplus of FCFA 13 million.
Ngue told reporters that though the examination of the 2006 account was the main reason for the meeting, members of ASAC also examined some major problems facing the insurance sector in Cameroon.
He disclosed that one of the issues they examined was communication in the form of intensifying the sensitization of the public, in a bid to make many people realize the importance of obtaining an insurance policy either for their automobiles, property, lives and so on.
The President ASAC noted that in Cameroon, insurance coverage in the automobile domain is far higher than obtaining that of life insurance. He asserted that from the look of things, most vehicle owners in the country go for insurance more for fear of the police or gendarmerie checks, since it is obligatory to obtain it.
He said there are even some people who drive their vehicles around without an insurance policy.Ngue insisted that an insurance policy is very important, and that one should not only go for it for fear of running into problems with the forces of law and order.
He said there are people who do not want to buy insurance for their vehicles, but when they are involved in an accident, they start running around attempting to bribe workers of insurance companies, to see if they can be given a back-dated insurance policy.
As for life insurance, Ngue said only about 15 percent of the population of Cameroon are covered. He partly attributed the low coverage to the fact that unlike automobile insurance, life insurance is not obligatory. Yet, he opined, life insurance is supposed to be indispensable.
Ngue also attributed the low rate of coverage of the population of Cameron by life insurance to poverty. He asserted that low purchasing power makes it the more difficult to try to convince somebody to obtain a life insurance policy. He, however, noted that in spite of the poverty, some people can still afford to buy cigarettes and liquor everyday, but not life insurance.
Ngue explained that the different ways of payment for an insurance policy in Cameroon, makes it possible for anybody interested in it to go for it.The ASAC President also noted that in countries where life insurance has developed, it is generally observed that the governments played a major role to get to that stage, through making substantial financial contributions to subsidize the sector and ensure wider coverage of the population.
He disclosed that two new insurance companies have joined the insurance sector in Cameroon. This brings the total number of insurance companies to 27.In reaction to a question on the present turnover of insurance companies in the country,Ngue said from his observation, the turnover of the ASAC members put together will by next year be over FCFA 100 billion.
He said they are expecting next year to see a an increase of between 5-10 percent in turnover, As for life insurance in particular, Ngue said the turnover of the companies is over FCFA 20 billion.
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Meanwhile, ASAC on May 8 in Douala, organised a reception in honour of the Vice President/General Manager of Colina La Citoyenne Cameroun, Protais Ayangma Amang, who was in February elected President of the African Federation of Insurance Associations, FANAF, during the Federation's elective General Assembly which held in Mali.
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