By Abdulfattah Abdussalam
The foremost Takaful insurance company in Nigeria, the JAIZ Takaful Insurance Plc, is sharing with its policyholders in Abuja, Lagos, and Kano a whopping N84.5 million as surplus return on the premium paid by its policyholders. The distribution is an outstanding landmark in the history of Takaful Insurance operations in Nigeria. In an event tagged The Highest Surplus Sharing Ever, the Board, Management and Staff of the company were happy to share the amount, for it marks a turning point and score of success in the company operations.
The welcome address of Malam Abidu Yazid, the board chairman, mentioned the success Jaiz Takaful records so far in the industry. He had this to say “the 2020 financial result reflects our intent to deliver consistent surplus from Takaful operation so that the policyholders’ interest is safe while we continue to reward our shareholders. The participant’s takaful fund generated a net consolidated surplus of N121.4 Million. It is an unprecedented milestone from where we are sharing the net surplus of N84.5 million to our participants”.
In a lecture by the guest speaker, Professor Tajudeen Yusuf, a cerebral lecturer of Actuarial Science at the Insurance department of the University of Lagos, he enlightened the audience on the goodness of the Takaful Insurance business, opined that the Takaful operation is a plus for the growth of the country economy. Takaful Insurance does not give room for any ethically questionable behaviour like inflated claims prevalent in the conventional Insurance space because Takaful policyholders are guaranteed good returns on their investments at the end of the business year.
Professor Tajudeen Yusuf believes the sharing of surplus by Jaiz Takaful is practically proving right the theoretical aspect of the perfection Islamic finance windows offer people as contained in the Quran, Hadith and submissions of Islamic Scholars over time. Additionally, JAIZ Takaful Insurance activities have drawn a distinct line between conventional insurance company and Islamic insurance. And have shown that Islamic finance and values are about preservations of wealth, Deen, Intellects, lives and posterity. However, he admonishes the company to uphold the following five areas in its operations if it wishes to continue to prosper and remain a key player in the Sharia Compliant insurance sector of the Nigerian economy. Jaiz Takaful must uphold “governance and regulatory compliance to play by the rules, be on top of the associated risk management and control in Takaful operations, maintain operational and business excellence required in the sector and avoid cutting corners as obtainable in conventional Insurance practice. Strategic marketing and product governance has to be its watchword and always ready to give back to investors and participants of its products, build and maintain the capacity, talents and leadership development of its workforce by continually investing in the training of its workforce”.
In his remarks, Mr Hundogan Sewanu Temitope, the permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Finance and the representative of the Governor of the State, Governor Babajide Sanwoolu, congratulates the Managing Director, the Board, Management and Staff of the company for the feats in the insurance sector of the Nigeria Economy. Governor Sanwoolu was delighted with the distribution from the surplus it recorded to participants in the Lagos takaful market and advised JAIZ Takaful to improve upon and step up its public awareness and enlightenment efforts on their brands. It should also enlighten the people in Lagos State on the benefits inherent in Takaful products as promoted by the company.
Attendance at the occasion had the following people: the representative of the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Mr Hundogan Sewanu Temitope who is the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Finance, Imam Engineer, Sulaiman O Abou-Nolla, the Grand Imam of Lagos State, the representatives of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), the regulatory body of insurance companies in Nigeria, HRH, Alh. Musa Muhammad Dogon-Kadi, Sarkin Hausawa of Agege, the President of the Institute of Islamic Finance Professionals, Professor Tajudeen Yusuf, JAIZ Takaful Board Members: like Hajiya Zainab AbdurRahman, Malam Muhammad Haroun Eze, Imam Abdullah Shuaib PhD, Managing Director /CEO JAIZ Foundation and Charity, some management staff, Mr Jubril Salahudeen of Citiserve insurance plc, representatives of Noor Takaful Insurance limited, SALAM Takaful Insurance and many others.