Life Insurance Policy in Developing Countries (An Indepth Discussion in the Nigerian Context)

Human history reveals a universal desire for security. Early societies relied exclusively on family and tribe cohesiveness for their security. With industrial development, migration to cities and urbanization, this security service weakened and was augmented by privately purchased and government provided security programs. Life Insurance has emerged as a universal response. The motivation for the topic is to outline the intrinsic benefits of life insurance, assess its performance in the Nigeria situation and examine what a regulator could do to facilitate its development. The inherent benefits of life insurance could be categorized into there, is; benefits to the individual, benefits to the government and impact on economic development. This paper also evaluate the performance of life insurance in mobilizing long-term savings in Nigeria and determine what should be done at the level of a regulator, to fast-tract its development and ensure that its great potentials are fully realized. To this end, there is the need for enlightenment campaigns in emerging economies to educate the public on Life Insurance as well as preparation of prospectuses that explain the main features of Life Insurance products available