Insurers move to aid environment protection awareness in workplace

By Bankole Orimisan
 To further cope with the challenges posed by the outbreak of the coronavirus, especially in Nigeria, insurance operators have expressed commitment to promoting environmental protection awareness to
mitigate the negative impact of the virus in the workplace.
With the federal and some state governments entrenching physical and social distancing rules to limit human physical contacts to curb the spread of the virus, insurers opted to focus on their role in providing essential infrastructure that supports life on earth and human development.
Speaking with The Guardian over the weekend in an interview, the Chief Executive Officer, AXA Mansard Insurance, Kunle Ahmed, said protecting the environment is a major step towards protecting the wellbeing of Nigerians and all living creatures.
He said: “To lessen the environmental impact of operations through the management of energy, paper and water consumption as well as reducing overall emissions and waste, will protect the world we live in.”
According to him, environmental education has been strongly emphasised not just through schools and colleges but also through training in business and industry, through community activities and through raising public awareness of the environment especially during the pandemic in the country.
Ahmed, stressed that developments support the need for environmental education right from the office to increase consciousness that would lead to reduce in energy consumption through a focus on energy efficiency solutions that optimise usage in buildings. This will reduce office paper consumption and minimise the use of paper for marketing and distribution activities whenever allowed by local requirements and regulators.
He concluded that, “It’s our collective responsibility to manage impact on the environment by reducing resource use, and promoting climate change awareness throughout the world.”
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Linkage Assurance Plc, Daniel Braie, who said environment cleanliness is next to Godliness, also urged other operators to embrace environmental wellbeing in the workplace.
“In doing this, it is then we can mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our environment. We realise the serious impact that the Coronavirus pandemic is having on both individual and corporate lives of people here in Nigeria, and all over the world.”
A policyholder, Babarinde Tunde, who also spoke to The Guardian, urged the Federal Government to ensure adequate funding of healthcare in the country, and to make the National Health Insurance Scheme mandatory for all Nigerians.
He stressed the need for a blueprint in Nigeria’s healthcare system, and why healthcare delivery should be made a subject for national discourse.
This, according to him, will make all stakeholders work assiduously to facilitate the desired growth of the nation’s healthcare, adding that coverage of health insurance is still low.