The future is wired with uncertainties, which is why the average person usually has some trepidation when he contemplates tomorrow. That explains man's effort, over the ages, to find ways to structure today to assure his protection and peace of mind for tomorrow. Various tools have been devised over time, but one of the most creative and pragmatic has been the concept of risk-sharing which is the basis of insurance. It became clear, empirically, that misfortunes are distributed in a random fashion, dictating that a pooled approach to the rehabilitation of victims will leave all contributors better protected, at the least cost. Insurance has since been, to societies that understand it, a tidy way to maintain a stable quality of life, by ensuring that accidents and catastrophe will not decimate the victims' financial capacity and ruin their future.

A Protection Tailored To Your Need
When you sign up for an insurance, you buy a cover or protection against a risk. While it is not certain that the risk being insured against will occur, the probability is obviously significant, based on past experience, otherwise you wouldn't need the insurance. Because there are different kinds of risks, insurers have developed various insurance products to cover different risks which the public is exposed to. While it is theoretically possible for an individual to cover all risks, the experience is more that people protect against the risks they consider more relevant or potentially damaging to their lives. In their effort to protect their citizenry, governments also legislate some insurance policies into compulsion, meaning that they must be taken by those specified by the law.

The Nigerian insurance industry can boast of a range of insurance products to deal with major forms of risk. If you're looking to protect your future and gain peace of mind, here are some classes of insurance, explained in simple non-technical language, which you may find handy:

1. Motor Vehicle Insurance
Motor insurance is a statutory requirement within the territory of Nigeria. You shouldn't have a car plying the roads without an insurance cover. The law prescribes a minimum obligatory requirement, what is widely called the third-party insurance. What this requires is that, as a minimum, the motor vehicle must have a cover against the risk of death, bodily harm or damage to property of a third party, resulting from an accident caused by the vehicle.

The owner of the vehicle could also suffer death or injury from an accident involving his vehicle or substantial damage to the vehicle. A policy that fully covers all possible risks attaching to the use of the vehicle, irrespective of which party is involved, is therefore the best protection to get. A comprehensive vehicle insurance will provide just that.

2. Fire Accident Policy
Fires are a common phenomenon is our environment, almost guaranteed to occur, even frequently. Huge losses have been the aftermath of each case, with hapless citizens at the receiving end. Given the legendary underperformance of the public fire service and the absence of a private-sector service, the Fire Accident policy is obviously an attractive protection. A fire policy will cover against loss of property to a fire accident.

3. Burglar Insurance Policy
This policy is taken against loss of property to burglary. It can be taken to protect goods in a shop, warehouse or other storage locations or against burglary to your home or office. Knowing that a major burglary can rob you of assets of substantial value, you can pick a policy to indemnify against such loss.

4. Cash And Cash-In-Transit Policies
Our cash-based economy cannot but see a lot of cash holdings and cash movements. A lot of shop safes are loaded with cash even overnight, while individuals, companies, banks and other entities frequently cart massive volumes of cash from one location to another. The liquidity and ease of conversion of cash has meant that robbers stay busy trailing and attacking cash in business houses and in transit. Non-cash modes of transactions and money transfer are your best bet, but if you have cause to keep or move significant amounts of cash, insurers can come to the rescue: you take a cash policy for cash in your premises and a cash-in-transit policy to protect cash that you move from one location to another.

5. Goods-In-Transit
If you have a significant volume of your goods being frequently moved between locations (perhaps to your outlets or to supply to customers) or your business involves the haulage of goods for other parties, your exposure to the risk of loss or damage to goods while in transit may be high. This will recommend that you take a goods-in-transit policy to protect against the hazards you risk when the goods are moved.

6. Public Liability
You may be engaged in activity that can expose innocent members of the public to unintended risk. A crane at a construction site could collapse or accidentally dislodge its load, doing harm to passersby. Such accident could give rise to huge claims from victims and this could break your back. A reasonable protection is to take a public liability policy, transferring the potential burden of settlement to the insurer.

7. Product Liability
The product you produce or market to the public can also become a source of danger to members of the public who may suffer some unintended harm from the use of the product. For example, undetected contamination of an edible product could cause serious illhealth to users. Such users may sue for damages which could be serious enough to spell the end of your business. To protect against such risk to your business, a product liability policy is what you need: the insurance covers you against the risk of a liability to third parties, arising from the use of your product.

8. Household Asset Policy/Home Insurance
A lot of money is invested in assets we own in homes, ranging from the value of the building to electronics, furniture, kitchen equipment and personal possessions. Considering that all could be lost to fire, flood, theft, malicious damage or other cause, you may just take a policy against the value of assets in your home. What you gain is indemnification by the insurer, should you lose all or any of the assets.

9. Computer or other Assets Insurance
The PCs or other computers and peripherals, as well as other IT resources for your office can be similarly covered against loss.

10. Marine Policy
When goods are shipped from one location to another, it is a requirement of international maritime practice that such goods are insured. The appropriate policy is a marine insurance. This policy will protect the importer against any loss or damage to the goods while in transit and until taken delivery of from the ports. So when you import goods, be sure to get a reliable insurance company to provide a good marine cover for the consignment.

11. Property Insurance
This is a more all-in cover against loss or damage to your building, plant and machinery, stock and other assets in your premises. It can be an all-risks policy covering against fire, theft and other risks.

12. Disability Insurance
This is a protection on your income against the risk of disability through ill-health or accident. A temporary or permanent incapacitation from working to sustain your income will likely impose serious hardship on you and your dependants. A disability policy should prove an attractive protection to provide income in the event of disability.

13. Personal Accident
Benefit is payable in the event of death or disablement at work or all-round (depending on your policy), as a result of accident. This will include loss of limb(s), eye(s), hearing and other defects, due to accidental injury.

14. Group Personal Accident
If you run a business, the protection of your staff, especially against work accidents will be important to you. A group personal accident insurance will provide against death or disablement from accident. It can help to maintain payment to an employee who is no longer contributing to productive work in the business.

15. Health Insurance
Good healthcare is not cheap and costs are ever rising. Maintaining the health of the family should be a priority objective and doing so absolutely from your pocket, as has been the experience of most citizens, could be back-breaking. The consequence has been that most people are unable to pay for and get good medical service for their families. But there was always insurance to help cushion this. More importantly today, the government-sponsored National Health Insurance Scheme is in operation. It's time to get the burden off your back: take a policy one way or the other and protect the health of your family.

16. Fidelity Insurance
If you run a business, there is always the risk that your employee might engage in a fraud or other act of dishonesty that could cost the business a lot of money. It could be by theft of cash or goods. If you perceive this as a significant threat to your business, a fidelity insurance cover is the right protection. This policy will indemnify you against losses arising from the dishonesty of employees.

17. Business Interruption/Loss Of Earnings
A policy to indemnify your business against a break in production or income stream, arising from a peril. So, while you may protect the assets of your business with, say a property insurance, a major peril may mean that the business will be out of operation for a period. This will result also in loss of earnings from the usual operation of the business. This policy will pay the insured revenue sum for the period covered in the policy during which the business can be put back on track. It may be based on gross profit.

18. Business Legal Expenses
Considering that legal expenses could prove substantial for a business, a policy cover may be a reasonable protection, especially if you anticipate frequent litigations. The cover can relate to property (tenancy, license protection, etc), employment (employee disputes, data protection, etc), tax disputes (with the revenue or other contribution agencies) and contracts.

19. Travel Insurance
If your business or lifestyle entails a lot of traveling, recognise that there are hazards to traveling and consider an insurance package to protect yourself and/or your family against those hazards. Risks to consider taking cover for include flight accidents (accidental death or dismemberment while on scheduled flights or prior to departure and after arrival), loss of personal belongings and luggage, etc.

20. Life Assurance
A life assurance policy provides against the death of the insured. It provides for the family of the life assured in the event of his death. In some cases, terminal illness or permanent disability may also be covered. There are variants. A whole life policy is effective for the whole life of the assured rather than a pre-stated term and has guaranteed death benefits. A term assurance (time life insurance) has a specified term during which, if the life assured dies, the dependants get paid the assured sum. It however does not accumulate cash value. Your insurer will provide you details of the various life insurance products in their portfolio.

You Need To Cultivate A Positive Attitude To Insurance
The risks we face are legion and no individual or organisation has adequate capacity to withstand a major catastrophe. The irony is that while major companies that have substantial financial muscle will almost religiously take various insurance covers to protect their business, employees and other interests, individuals and small to medium businesses, which are even more vulnerable, choose to bear their own risks. You will help your future by engaging tested, best practices of living and doing business. In the long term, they offer you the best chance of success. Take time today to assess the risk exposure of your life, family or business. Identify risk factors which to offload to insurers and limit the potential for a major setback. The list provided here is more of a teaser. The insurance company you approach will provide you details of the exact products they offer. It may also be necessary to tailor a product to your specific need.

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