Accra, Aug. 14, GNA- Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Friday charged operators in the insurance industry to adopt novel strategies in expanding the sector so as to make it a major player in the economy than it is at the moment.

He said the over reliance of insurance companies on third party premiums must give way to more innovative means of insuring people as happened in the banking sector.

Interacting with the management of NEM Insurance Ghana Limited, a joint Ghanaian-Nigerian insurance concern at the Castle, Osu, Vice President Mahama expressed his concern about the unwillingness of the insurance industry to introduce new products that would increase their base, compared to the banking sector.

He said the sector must be among the new frontiers in investment in the country, by employing new technologies in consonance with the ECOWAS Commission's vision of a borderless West African society.

Vice President Mahama asked the management of NEM Insurance, which would be inaugurated next month, to break away with the conservative attitude in the Ghanaian insurance market and introduce measures that would expand their services to all parts of the country.

He observed that the over reliance of the insurance companies on third party premiums acquired by commercial vehicle operators at the insistence of the police was unwittingly responsible for the lackadaisical attitude on the part of the industry. He said an unfortunate trend that had emerged as a result of this scenario, which mainly festers on the ignorance of drivers, is the reluctance or refusal of some insurance companies to pay off their customers.

Vice President Mahama therefore called on the National Insurance Commission to crack down on all such illegalities, and as well educate drivers on their rights so that the continued ripping off by the industry would be curbed, if not totally obliterated. He observed that many drivers, who take up such polices, ended up repairing their vehicles, especially those involved in accidents, instead of being reimbursed by the insurance company they took the policy with.

Mr Edward Painim, Board Chairman of NEM Insurance, said his outfit's entry into the Ghanaian market was to enable it to play a role in the agriculture and oil sectors, two industries, he said, hold the promise of Ghana becoming an industrialized nation.

He said NEM Insurance would be a responsible player and help partner government in generating revenue, creating jobs and ensuring retaining premiums for investment in other sectors of the economy. 14 Aug. 09