Because the traders were left in a condition of powerlessness due to the fire breakout, the recurring fire outbreaks in Lagos marketplaces have revealed the lack of financial literacy about insurance protection. In addition to leaving shop owners with bad taste in their mouths, the recent fire outbreak at Mandilas, which broke out on September 16 and destroyed over 200 stores valued at billions of naira, also destroyed a significant source of funding for the economy and revealed insurance coverage gaps, primarily in the unorganized sectorInsurance, which reduces risks that encourage entrepreneurship, protects households from unexpected shocks, encourages long-term savings and investments, and stabilizes financial markets, is unquestionably a key component of financial resilience in some developed economies. Nevertheless, Nigeria’s insurance penetration rate is still a startlingly low 1.0%, compared to 11.54% in South Africa, 7.41% in Namibia, 4.10% in Morocco, 2.25 percent in Kenya, and the global average of 6.8%On the other hand, the NIIRA 2025 promises to transform the sector and marks a new effort to address the limitations of the 2003 Act that was abolished. According to data from the Daily Trust, some store owners who lost millions of naira in the latest fire epidemic did not have insurance, thus they were left to replenish with little chance of reimbursement.
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