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Chuks Udo Okonta
Some insurance practitioners have blamed Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of insurance firms for the alleged dearth of capable personnel for managing director positions in the sector.
Inspenonline had earlier published a report where the Commissioner for Insurance Sunday Thomas, raised the concern at an event held recently in Lagos.
Commenting on the report on a WhatsApp group platform – Insurance Practitioners Forum in Nigeria, an insurer, Nzeh Francis, said insurance chief executive officers are obviously to blame for not putting pragmatic succession plan in place.
He noted that to be a managing director/chief executive officer is not a rocket science and called for entrenchment of robust succession plan.
Another operator, Anayo Nwosu, said nobody should be surprised that the industry is facing this kind of challenge, adding that it is a man made problem that had arisen out of greed and ineptitude on the part of most managements of insurance companies.
According to him, there is no succession plan put in place and most of the managing directors often forget that they would one day retire.
He noted that in most companies, the gap between the senior management staff and their immediate subordinates is a big gulf due to greed and fear.
He said most management staff do present themselves for training courses that are designed for middle level managers, adding that it is a sorry situation.
For Akeen Ige, another practitioner, this happened because the present managing directors do not have succession plan.
He posited that there are many potential managing directors in the industry with fresh and progressive ideas.
In spite this challenge, Inspenonline can report that few firms such as Leadway Assurance Limited and Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, have successfully transmitted power from one chief executive officer to another due to entrenched succession plan.
