When Raphael bought his life insurance policy after the birth of his twin sons in 2000, it was just another responsible thing he was advised to do as a new father. He was indifferent about it because he was thriving in his career as a civil engineer and had all he needed to care for his family.  

The policy was affordable, and the insurance agent who sold it to him repeatedly told him that this policy would change his family’s life. The agent was right. Raphael passed away unexpectedly in 2016, three months after the twins resumed their first year at one of Nigeria’s finest private universities.  Survival was the last thing Raphael’s family was concerned about amid their grief because they knew they were sorted. The payout from his life insurance policy put the twins through university and provided capital for a new family business that is thriving to date.

Most families in this situation would have been plunged into a financial crisis, but Raphael’s life insurance prevented that by doing what it was meant to do - providing the much-needed soft landing necessary to make it through the adversities of life. Stories like Raphael’s are powerful, but they are not as common as they should be in Nigeria.

Ignorance, apathy, and under-utilisation continue to be the three main factors that prevent people from harnessing insurance to the maximum. Many Nigerians get life insurance because they do not understand what it can do for them, and even those who have it, are not fully informed about all the features, riders, and benefits that accrue to them, outside of the death benefit.  

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