CIIN moves to register 3000 professionals for growth

To further deepen insurance penetration in Nigeria, the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigerian (CIIN) has concluded plans to register additional 3,000 members for the Institute within the next one year.

The President, CIIN, Funmi Babington-Ashaye, who disclosed this at a meeting in Lagos, said the Institute is presently made up of 8,976 professionals across the country.

She said pursuant to attaining the set target, she led a delegation of the CIIN to the Commissioner for Insurance, and the Commission promised to issue a guideline that will compel all staff of Insurance Institutions in Nigeria, to register as members of CIIN. “This will go a long way in achieving our set goal,” she said.

She maintained that the Institute is also working with the University of Lagos, to initiate an Executive Master’s Degree programme in Insurance and Risk Management, which will be structured like the programme of Cass Business School (CBS), U.K. She added that upon successful completion of the CBS Master programme, its graduates are usually eligible for exemptions from both the CII U.K. and Nigeria’s qualifying examinations.

“This also would facilitate the attainment of the Chartered Institute Advanced Diploma of both U.K. and Nigeria. Our desire is to replicate this programme in partnership with the University of Lagos for the benefit of our members.

“The University of Lagos team in conjunction with the Institute,, and Rector of the College of Insurance & Financial Studies are presently working on the content of the proposed MSc Risk Management and Insurance Programme. Also, a series of top level meetings are being held by all the key stakeholders to fashion out the best possible modalities for the programme,” she said.Ashaye noted that the Institute had taken the insurance awareness campaign to the youths, the leaders of tomorrow.

According to her, our desire is to catch them young and imbibe in their consciousness the crucial roles insurance plays in human endeavours.

“As part of this initiative, the Council has developed a roadmap to drive the Institute’s proposed partnership with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Accordingly, the Institute has established contacts with the national headquarters of the NYSC, the Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo state chapters, to intimate them of the CIIN’s Catch-Them-Young Initiative.

“The pilot edition of the programme will kick-off at the Lagos State NYSC Camp during the November 2017 Orientation Exercise, which starts today, where a career talk will be organised for the benefit of Corps members. To facilitate continuous information dissemination, a CIIN Enquiry and Help Desk will be on ground throughout the duration of the orientation exercise.

“This initiative, which is designed to help attract young Nigerians into the insurance profession, will be replicated and sustained in other states of the Federation until it achieves a national spread,” she said.

She called on media profession to sustain unalloyed support for the industry, as it steadily marches towards it ultimate goal of significantly enhancing the contribution of insurance to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through increased insurance education and awareness.