Insure Africa Gist

Proximate Cause is not your cousin from Benin who causes drama 😅
In insurance, proximate cause means:
👉🏾 The dominant, effective cause of a loss – the real MVP (or villain) behind the accident.

If 3 things went wrong, which ONE started the wahala? That’s the proximate cause.


📍Let’s go to Lagos-Benin Expressway, 7:30AM.

One guy, Chinedu, is speeding round a corner like Fast & Furious, but he forgets physics has no chill.

He swerves to avoid potholes ➡️ enters wrong lane ➡️ hits an okada ➡️ okada man flies like Jet Li 😳
➡️ Trailer swerves to dodge okada ➡️ trailer hits 2 cars ➡️ ₦80 million in damages 😭


Now, insurance adjusters arrive looking like FBI agents.
Everybody’s shouting:
🚴🏾‍♂️ "The okada man caused it!"
🚗 "Chinedu did it!"
🚛 "It’s the trailer's brake failure!"
🕵🏾 The adjuster is just there asking:
“But who really caused it?”

This is where proximate cause becomes a brain teaser 🤯


🎯 Answer: Chinedu speeding out of the corner was the proximate cause.

Even though 5 other things happened, his action started the domino effect.
So, insurers may pay claims based on that root cause.

🧠 Lesson:
In motor insurance, knowing who’s truly responsible isn’t always clear.
It’s not who screamed the loudest—it’s who started the chaos! 😅

#Insurance #Nigeria #MotorInsurance #Claims #Risk #ProximateCause

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