Bababjide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State Governor, has paid out over N2 billion as an insurance premium for civil servants in 2021.
Rabiu Olowo, the state Commissioner for Finance disclosed this on Monday, during a media conference as part of activities to mark the state Civil Service Insurance week, held in Alausa, Ikeja.
The Commissioner added that the premium covered both life and non-life insurance, with about 73,000 civil servants already captured for life insurance.
According to him, “Insurance is now compulsory for all civil servants in the state.
“This gesture is in line with the present administration’s commitment to ensuring adequate care for its workforce while serving and after retirement. Lagos State, over the years, has continued to ensure its staff with regular payment of premium to cater for them during service, and also payment of death benefits.
“Insurance is one of the ways that we manage risk in Lagos State. It is not an issue of optionality or so. We have lived and non-life insurance and that is very compulsory
“Presently, we have over 73,000 employees on our database from the ministries and all these employees are covered under the life insurance.
“This year alone, we have paid over N2 billion in insurance premium to cover life and non-life. That speaks to the importance of insurance. We also saw the benefits of engaging in insurance during this COVID-19 pandemic and the endsars protest. parrotreporters.com
“We have enjoyed the real essence and value proposition of insurance, and the best we can do is to further our commitment to ensuring that our insurance activities are more strengthened. This is why we are doing this sensitization and advocacy.
This insurance week also came into fruition following the discovery that many of the workers are not fully aware of the existence of a professional insurance department domiciled in the Ministry of Finance and, as such, have not been maximizing the crucial role being performed by this department.
“The insurance department provides professional risk advisory to the state. It also coordinates the various insurance policies and packages of the state. The task of ensuring that vehicles, buildings, electronics, computers, firefighting equipment, other assets, as well as the welfare package of the entire workforce, is the responsibility of the insurance department.
‘This insurance week will explore the various advantages and benefits of insurance to the entire workforce.
To this end, we have identified the need for more sensitization and education on insurance, and how civil servants and the entire populace can key into the abundant opportunities in insurance.”
