Wapic Insurance in resignation troubles

Wapic Insurance Ghana Limited is now faced with operational difficulties after all but four of its top management tendered in their resignations for pastures green elsewhere, B&FT has gathered.

B&FT understands the Chief Finance Officer of the Company, Kennedy Afful, is the latest to tender in his resignation last week, joining the Head of Technical Operations, Frank Dagbui; Head of Commercial & Government Clients, Simon Kyei-Appiah; Head, Individual & SME Clients, Abdallah Alhaji Muntaka; and Head, Information Communication Technology, Olatunji Yusuf in resigning from the company.

Additionally, the Head of Broker Relations, Kumasi Branch Manager and Takoradi Branch Manager have also resigned from the company, with the Chief Operations Officer, Alex-Duduyemi leaving the firm in 2015.

To compound its situation, about 13 marketing officers of the company have also left the insurance company since late last year for various reasons.

According to information gathered by the B&FT, Adedayo Arowojolu, the Managing Director of Wapic Insurance Ghana who was appointed in May last year to head the local subsidiary of the Nigerian-founded insurance firm, and the Head, Institutional Clients, Efosa Igiehon; Head, Risk Management-Angela Dadzie-Williams; and Head, Admin and HR-Nathaniel Akoto are the only top management members left in the company.

However, Olufemi Obaleke-an Executive Director of Wapic Insurance Plc, the parent company of the company has been brought into the country from Lagos, Nigeria to support the management team in Ghana and insider information singles him out as the go-to person who is principally responsible for driving and providing direction for the Ghana operations.

Also an Internal Auditor, Sony Ogbemudia has been assigned from Nigeria to help strengthen and scrutinise the Ghana operation’s financial reporting.

B&FT has learnt some of the top managers at Wapic Insurance have been edgy since redeployment of the company’s erstwhile Managing Director Razzaq Abionun to Nigeria, as part of efforts to restrategise and streamline the company’s operations.

Mr. Razzaq Abionun has since been forced to leave Wapic Insurance and is now assisting with investigations into financial malpractice.

It is also understood the Group chair of Wapic Insurance Plc, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, has since acquiring the Insurance Company from Intercontinental Plc, being suspicious of underhand dealings in the firm, and has set out to cleanse the system right from the Group level to subsidiary operations.

B&FT has learnt that due to the suspicion of fraudulent claims and other financial mis-dealings, claims made in Ghana are refereed to Nigeria for approval.

Wapic started its operations in Ghana in 2009 to undertake general insurance business, making it one of four wholly-owned Nigerian companies operating in Ghana’s insurance business.

The company controls about 1.4 percent of the insurance market in Ghana, and it’s one of the firms that made strong gains in its financial performance in 2014 -- the company’s financial statement is not available to the B&FT since 2015’s figures have not been published yet.

According to the financial statement, Wapic posted a profit of GH¢2.5million in 2014 as against a loss of about GH¢661,000 the previous year.