From left: President, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, Mrs Funmi Babington-Ashaye and Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Ekanem Ita-Oyo, during a courtesy visit to the Head of Service in Abuja.
ADDRESS DELIVERED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHARTERED INSURANCE INSTITUTE OF NIGERIA, MRS FUNMI BABINGTON–ASHAYE, DURING THE VISIT TO THE OFFICE OF HEAD OF CIVIL SERVICE OF THE FEDERATION IN ABUJA ON MONDAY 5TH MARCH 2018
PROTOCOLS
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation,
Council Members of CIIN present,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
It gives me great joy and honour to lead a delegation of our great Institute on this historic visit and sincerely thank the Head of Service on behalf of the Governing Council of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria for giving us audience at such a short notice. We are indeed very grateful for this unique opportunity.
Permit me to recognize the important role of the government and it various agencies in the development of insurance in Nigeria over the years. Over the years the government has continued to pass laws relevant to the development of insurance in Nigeria. Of importance is the Chartered Insurance Act of 1993 which established the Chartered Insurance institute of Nigeria 1993 which charged the institute with the duty of establishing and maintaining the standards for persons that want to practice insurance in Nigeria. The Institute has continued to play its key role in developing the necessary manpower for the industry by conducting examinations leading to the award of certificates for professionals that want to practice insurance in Nigeria. So far, the Institute has churned out over 3000 professionals who are employed in various capacities in the private and public sectors of the economy. We believe we can still do more in this regard.
Insurance penetration in Nigeria is less than one percent and is one of the lowest in the world and equally our contribution to the GDP is also low. Insurance can offer job opportunities to thousands of Nigerians if the insurance penetration increases.
Permit me to bring the following issues to the attention of the Office of the Head of Service:
1.EDUCATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT
In order to change the state of things, we have embarked on enlightenment programmes especially at the Institute to increase insurance awareness at all levels with the ultimate aim of increasing insurance penetration. The theme of my Presidency therefore focuses on Insurance and Enlightenment.
One of the key initiatives that have been undertaken by us is the Youth Empowerment programme through the NYSC scheme embarked upon by us to avail young graduates of the opportunities that abound in our profession and to let them know of the benefits of insurance. The first pilot scheme was carried out in Lagos, where we set up tents at the orientation camp, carried out a career talk and distributed insurance textbooks free to interested corpers. This was also followed up with free insurance training to interested corpers. At the end of the training they were issued letters of introduction to insurance companies for job placements. This hopefully will be replicated in other states.
Insurance text books have been distributed to secondary schools through the various Ministries of Education in various States of the Federation. So far, about thirteen States of the federation have been covered including the FCT. We intend to cover the whole of the thirty two states of the federation.
Books and educational materials have also been distributed to higher institutions of learning offering insurance in Nigeria.
We organized seminars involving heads of departments of Insurance of tertiary institutions offering insurance in Nigeria to bridge the gap existing between them and the industry.
We have continually carried out accreditation of universities and polytechnics offering insurance in Nigeria in order to support them and to ensure that they have the right faculty and educational materials to teach insurance.
2. ENFORCEMENT OF COMPULSORY INSURANCES
Under the various laws enacted by the government, provisions are made for compulsory insurances. Examples of such compulsory insurances include:
• Third party Motor insurance;
• Group life policy to be taken by employers with five employees or more;
• Professional indemnity for medical practitioners as provided for by the NHIS Act;
• Liability policies for public buildings and buildings under construction as defined by the Insurance Act of 2003.
The enforcement of these compulsory insurances in Nigeria is still low and we shall require the assistance of government agencies in the enforcement of the laws.
In January 2017 in Abuja, we organized a seminar under the auspices of the Insurance Consultative Council of Nigeria (IICC). The aim of this seminar which involved key government agencies like The Nigerian Police, Nigerian Fire service, NHIS, Federal Road Safety Corps was to educate them and to seek their cooperation in the enforcement of these compulsory insurances. While we appreciate the efforts of the government in enforcing the group life policy among the various agencies of government especially the office of head of service, a lot of public buildings under the control of government departments are still not insured. We would therefore request for support of the head of service in ensuring that Public buildings owned by government be insured. When government leads, it will be easy for others to follow.
3.RECOGNITION AND PLACEMENT OF INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS IN THE CIVIL SERVICE.
Permit me to bring to your attention the issue of the recognition and placement of our professionals who are employed in the civil service. We have received the complaint that some of our professionals are not adequately placed compared to their counterpart in accountancy and other professions in the service.
The Federal Ministry of Education visited our institute and carried out the evaluation of our certificates on April 8, 2010. The purpose of their assessment is to advise the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation on the standard/rating and relevance of the professional qualification of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria. The 9-member Expert Assessors Committee made their recommendations on our certificates. Their recommendations were accepted by the Ministry. At the end of their visit an evaluation report was issued in respect of our professional certificates as follows:
(i)Certificate:Certificate in Insurance would be rated as proficiency
certificate for the enhancement of skills on the job.
(ii)Diploma:Holders of the Diploma in Insurance should enter into
post on salary grade level 06 in the Public Service.
(iii) Advanced Diploma: Holders of Advanced Diploma in Insurance with an
entry qualification of Diploma and 3 years post qualification experience should enter into post on salary grade level 07 in the Public Service.
(iv) Advanced Diploma: Holders of Advanced Diploma in Insurance with an
entry qualification of HND/BSC in Insurance should enter into post of Salary grade Level 09 in the public service.
We were advised to write through NAICOM and Federal Ministry of Finance our supervising Ministry to the Head of Service so that these recommendations can be gazetted as recommended by Federal Ministry of Education. This has been done and we are still awaiting the official response from the Office of the Head of Service. We shall be grateful if this is given the due attention it requires.
Once again we want to thank you for the opportunity given to us to interact with your esteemed office
Please accept the highest regards of the Governing Council of the CIIN.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria
FUNMI BABINGTON-ASHAYE (FCII, FIIN)
President, Chartered Insurance institute of Nigeria.
