Lady Chukwuma (5th left) with past presidents of the institute at the event.
VALEDICTORY SPEECH OF LADY ISIOMA CHUKWUMA, THE 47TH PRESIDENT OF THE CHARTERED INSURANCE INSTITUTE OF NIGERIA ON TUESDAY 18TH JULY, 2017 AT THE INSTITUTE’S SECRETARIAT, 27 LAGOS STREET EBUTE-METTA, LAGOS.
PROTOCOLS
On Tuesday 14th August, 2015, I became the 47thPresident of our great Institute. I also at that point became the 5th Female President following thetrail blazing feats of my predecessors:
1. Late (MRS). C.M OKPAISE (1981)
2. Late ERELU O.O AINA (1990)
3. Late (MRS.) C.A ROWAIYE (1996-97) and
4. Mrs. O. J. IFATUROTI (2005-07)
I want to thank the Almighty God for making it possible for me to successfully run my two year tenure as President which comes to an end tomorrow at the 2017 Annual General meeting of the Institute. I also want to express my sincere appreciation to my husband, Sir Sammy Chukwuma and my immediate family for their understanding and support during the course of my tenure. I could not have had a wonderful, stress free two year tenure without the full support of my Board, the Management and entire staff of Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation. I appreciate and thank you all.
My appreciation also goes to the Institute’sGoverning Council members, Chairmen of the various Committees of Council and their members for helping to execute the Institute’s programs during my two-year tenure as President.
Finally, I could not have recorded the moderate achievements that I made these past two years without the support, guidance and leadership provided by my Investiture and Implementation Committee very ably chaired by Past President Dr. F.K. Lawal. Other members of the Committee include; Barr(Mrs) Laide Osijo, Sir M.O Oyegunle, Mr. S.O. Oyefeso, Barr Rotimi Edu,Otunba Yele Akinrolabu,Dr (Mrs) Yeside Oyetayo, Mrs Adetutu Arusiuka, Mrs Amaka Nzewi, Mr. Olutayo Borokini (DG,CIIN), Mrs Uju Chukwu (DDG), Mrs Anne Dike (who served as Secretary) and of course, the entire Secretariat Staff. I want to sincerely thank you all for your time, your commitment and for keeping me on my toes in order to ensure that I fulfill the mandate of my Presidency.
The theme of my Presidency was‘CONSOLIDATING THE GAINS OF THE INDUSTRY FOR NATIONAL ECONOMIC GROWTH’from which an 11-point Agenda was drawn up.
Please permit me to give a quick review or appraisal of the set out Agenda.
i. PROMOTION OF THE IDEALS OF THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL (IICC):
I will like to report that the ideals of the Insurance Industry Consultative Council have been well sustained. The IICC has been able to hold two very successful editions of the National Insurance Conference. The 3rd edition of the Conference is scheduled to hold in Abuja from Sunday 9th July – Tuesday 11th July 2017.The IICC has also initiated an awareness campaign for the enforcement of Compulsory Insurances in Nigeria with the training organized for Insurance Stakeholders at Abuja in February, 2017. The campaign is expected to be replicated in the various geo-political zones of the country with the South-South region hosting the next edition before the end of the year.
ii. REINFORCING THE HUGE POTENTIALS OF THE COLLEGE OF INSURANCE AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT (CIFM):
Through sustained publicity, various Training Programs have been holding successfully at the College. The College is now well grounded and has held two Graduation ceremonies for its Diploma students.
The College has also started a Part time Diploma Program.
iii. SITUATING THE CIIN ON THE GLOBAL STAGE:
The Institute during my Presidency has been able to consistently benchmark its curriculum to be at par with frontline Insurance Institutes across the globe. This is to ensure that CIIN certificate holders can continuously compete favorably with their counterparts in these climes.
iiii. PROMOTING INSURANCE AWARENESS BY INCREASING THE VISIBILITY OF INSURANCE IN NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS:
During my Presidency, courtesy visits were paid to frontline media houses in order to achieve this objective. Media houses visited include; The Punch Newspaper, National Mirror, The Guardian and The Nation. Members of the National Association of Insurance and Pensions Correspondents (NAIPCO) have also continually provided balanced and non-biased reportage of the Institute’s activities through their various media.
I will like to seize this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to all our Correspondents for the very good coverage I enjoyed during my two year tenure.
v. FOLLOW-UP ON THE RECOGNITION OF THE CIIN CERTIFICATE BY THE HEAD OF SERVICE OF THE FEDERATION; by ensuring that all necessary approvals are obtained so that our certificate holders are appropriately placed in the Civil Service structure.
So far, the Institute has been able to get necessary approvals to enable holders of the Institute’s certificates to gain employment in the Civil Service at appropriate grade levels. Discussions are however still ongoing to push for better recognition of the Institute’s certificates.
vi. FURTHER WORK ON ACHIEVING WIDER COVERAGE IN THE PRESENTATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE INSTITUTE’S SPONSORED INSURANCE TEXTBOOKS FOR SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS:
In continuation of the efforts of the two Past Presidents before me to present and distribute the Institute’s Sponsored Insurance Textbooks for Senior Secondary Schools, presentations were made to the following States through their various Commissioners for Education; Rivers, Imo, Enugu, Ekiti, The State of Osun, Kaduna and Kano. In Kano, about 100 copies of the books were presented to His RoyalHighness, Muhammadu Sanusi II, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, CON, the Emir of Kano in his palace.
The publication of the book is a landmark achievement of the Institute during the Presidency of Dr F.K.Lawal and I want to seize this opportunity to thank him again for the excellent initiative.
vii. RENEWED PURSUIT OF TRAINING FOR INSURANCE TEACHERS ON A NATIONAL SCALE:
The Train-the-Trainers project is a veritable platform for up scaling Insurance education and ensuring that insurance teachers possess the required skills for imparting the necessary knowledge to the future generation of insurance practitioners. The Train the Trainers Workshop was expected to be held in all the States where the Textbooks had been presented. I must admit that not much was done in this regard as the Workshop could be carried out in only three States; Ekiti, Enugu and Kaduna
viii. COMPLETION OF THE INSTITUTE’S EXAMINATIONS SYLLABUS REVIEW:
I am pleased to report that the Syllabus review has been concluded and presented to Council for approval and approval has been given for implementation. The review exercise has provided the opportunity to widen the scope of the Institute’s Examinations to include Insurance Broking and Loss Adjusting routes.
Full implementation for new students will start in April 2018 while arrangements are being made for the smooth transition from the old to the new syllabus.
ix. COMMENCEMENT OF WORK ON THE INSTITUTE’S VICTORIA ISLAND PROPERTY:
The completion of this project is one that has drawn the attention of a number of Past Presidents before me. Each of them had attempted to move the project forward to ensure that the Institute has a befitting building but each had unfortunately met one brick wall or the other. Before my Presidency, the Institute had secured the Building Plan Approval from the Lagos State Government and paid all outstanding fees thus ensuring that there were no further encumbrances hindering development on the project.
During my Presidency, under the able Chairmanship of Past President Seyi Ifaturoti and other Distinguished Members of the Building Committee, the Institute was able to properly secure the property by having it fenced and chased away all the miscreants who had hitherto occupied the premises. The Institute has also appointed a Solicitor for the Project who drafted the MOU signed by the Institute and the appointed Project Consultancy Team led by GYB Consults Limited. This Consultant is expected among other things to advertise, shortlist and appoint concessionaires who will handle the project. This is the stage we are in and it is my hope that the incoming President will follow through and see the successful completion of this laudable project.
In the interim however, I am pleased to report that during my tenure, the Institute embarked on the renovation of the present Secretariat Building to give it a more befitting look. The works are being handled in stages and for now work has been completed on the building’s exterior, the ground floor and Governing Council Chamber. It is my hope that work on the outstanding phases will be completed before the end of the year.
x. PURSUIT WITH VIGOUR, THE EXPANSION OF THE INSTITUTE’S EXAMINATIONS; to countries in West, East and Central African sub-regions i.e. Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe etc. in order to extend the frontiers of our professional examinations.
This is one agenda which regrettably was not achieved.
xi. PROMOTION OF CIIN MEMBERS’ BENEFITS:
In order to ensure that members get some form of value for their membership, a Group Life Policy has been arranged for all Past Presidents, Governing Council Members and all Financial Associate Members of the Institute. There are plans to extend the cover to include Permanent Disability due to illness or accident. The Institute has also been able to negotiate considerable discounts with front line hotels and airlines across the nation for its financial members.
OTHER ACTIVITIES OF MY PRESIDENCY
A. PRESENTATION OF COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUES TO PAST PRESIDENTS OF THE INSTITUTE:
It was observed that none of the Past Presidents of our great Institute has any visible evidence of their service to the Institute that will remind their family and friends that they once served as President of the Institute. This informed the presentation of commemorative plaques during the last edition of the Insurance Professionals’ Forum in Abeokuta, Ogun State to all Past Presidents of the Institute in remembrance of their services to the Institute.
Some Past Presidents who for one reason or the other could not attend the Professionals’ Forum have been visited in their homes and the plaques presented to them. The responses and reactions from the honored Past Presidents show that this decision was a step in the right direction.
It is therefore safe to say that a commemorative plaque would be presented to every outgoing President of the Institute during the Investiture of a new President.
B. COURTESY VISIT TO INDUSTRY ELDERS:
In keeping with the tradition already established by my predecessors, I had the privilege and honor of leading some Council members to pay New Year courtesy visits to some of our Past Presidents and elders during my two year tenure. The visits were deemed necessary as it affords the current President the opportunity of not only checking on the well being of these elders but also provides the opportunity of briefing and updating them on the various activities of the Institute, particularly projects that they were part of during their active days.
C. VISITS TO TRADITIONAL RULERS:
The Institute during this Presidency was able to take its awareness campaign to some of the foremost traditional institutions in the country. We were able to pay courtesy visits to the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II. Being very impressed with the visit and the objectives of the Institute, the Ooni of Ife promised to identify with any of the Institute’s programmes and events when invited. This was brought to bear as the Ooni sent a high powered delegation to the 2016 edition of the CIIN Professionals Forum in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
A similar courtesy visit was also paid to the Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II where copies of the Insittute’s published Inusrance Textbook for Senior Secondary Schools were donated to the Secondary School within the Emirates Palace. The Emir in appreciating the Institute’s gesture gave assurance of his support to any endeavor aimed at raising Insurance awareness especially in areas where Insurance penetration is low.
It is important to know that the traditional institutions have a major role to play in insurance penetration especially at the grassroots level. It is therefore pertinent to seek their support and participation in such endeavors.
CONCLUSION
As I proceed from being President to join the respected league of Past Presidents of our great Institute, I will like to assure you of my continuous commitment to the Institute to the best of my ability. Once again, I wish to express my appreciation to you all for the opportunity I had to steer the course of the Institute for the last two years and I pray for God’s continued guidance in all our endeavors. No doubt, the experience of my presidency remains one that I will cherish for the rest of my life and I thank you all for being part of it.
Thank you once again and God bless you all.
LADY ISIOMA CHUKWUMA, ACII, AIIN
PRESIDENT/CHAIRMAN OF COUNCIL
CHARTERED INSURANCE INSTITUTE OF NIGERIA
