The Risk Management Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) has urged the House of Senate and House of Representatives to ensure the Charter Bill is signed into law immediately to advance skills and risk management practices as well as salvage the country from the mass exodus of talents it is losing to other countries.

The call was made at the 22nd Annual General Meeting of RIMAN that was held virtually at the weekend. Besides, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) have appointed representatives to the board of RIMAN in the person of Director Risk Management, CBN, Dr. Blaise Ijebor and Director of Enterprise Risk Management, NDIC, Olalekan Dairo.

The President of RIMAN, Dr. Ezekiel Oseni, said although the bill has passed through third reading at the Senate and House of Representatives, signing it into an Act will advance the cause of sound risk management practices in Nigeria and boost the economic outlook.

He commended the CBN, NDIC, Federal Ministry of Finance and several other ministries departments and agencies (MDAs) for supporting the public hearing of the bill as well as their ceaseless and unalloyed commitment to risk management practices in Nigeria.

Oseni, who is also the Chief Risk Officer, Bank of Industry (BoI), said RIMAN played a leading voice in supporting and promoting the implementation of Basel III that CBN introduced in the second quarter of 2021 for the banks as well as several other capacity building programmes for professionals.

Speaking on the statement of the association, Oseni said the total assets grew by 23 per cent as of December 31, 2021 compared with the same p

He said similarly, the surplus from the Statement of Income for the year 2021 also grew by 75.67 per cent compared with the same period in 2020.

Speaking on the certification examinations of the Certified Risk Manager (CRM) Professional examination, Oseni said due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the new system would allow candidates to write their exams from the comfort of their homes or offices.

He called on interested candidates who have not commenced the examination process to quickly do so for the sake of the knowledge to be acquired through the process and for the many benefits of being a Certified Risk Manager, as well as to advance the course of sound risk management practices in Nigeria.

In her remark, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of RIMAN, Ms. Folakemi Fatogbe, expressed dissatisfaction at the pace of the passage of the Charted bill, which is in the third reading stage at the House of Representatives, into an Act, saying, “I don’t envisage much difficulty there and I know that all those that have contact will make sure we do our bid to ensure that our bill is passed into an Act of law because that will further help professionalise our profession. Election is around 150 days away and that itself brings its own uncertainty.”

She said with the report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which showed an uncertain outlook for economies of the world; risk management is very critical for Nigeria to scale through.

“We have already seen slow downs in China and America; we have seen runaway inflation in many of the major economies. In the United Kingdom it is worse.

We are seeing the same in Nigeria where inflation is 2.7 per cent and the general consensus among economists across the globe is that we are moving closer to recessionary territory,” she said.

She said the level of inflation is leading to a tightening of economic conditions, especially the impact on lending, business viability and an increase in performing loans.

On the mass emigration of talents in banks outside the country, Fatogbe said it is very worrisome, noting that training and retraining of people is very important and a big problem that must be addressed to stop people from leaving the banking industry and the country.

“We have seen the ‘japa syndrome’ and a lot of people leaving Nigeria, this is worrisome. We have to think of beneficial ways to use people, especially if we are able to leverage IT, we also have people that can work remotely.

“Training and retraining is important and a big problem. If we are concerned about it, it won’t be a big problem. We need to see opportunities in risk management for the benefit of the people and the organisations, so we don’t be the poverty capital of the world,” she said.