NAICOM, CIIN Move to Make CIIN Membership Compulsory

President of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Funmi Babington-Ashaye has vowed to make membership of the Institute compulsory for employees of insurance companies.

To this end, she has secured the nod of the industry regulator, the National Insurance Commission( NAICOM) to enforce this through issuance of a guideline which will mandate all staff of insurance firms in Nigeria to register with the institute.

There are evidence that majority of employees of insurance firms are not members of the institute despite efforts by past presidents of the institute to have them enrolled as the institute’s members.

But determined to achieve this, Babington-Ashaye, who is the 43rd president of the institute, had at her maiden press brief in Lagos informed journalists that in support of her drive to win additional 3000 members for the institute, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari, had during a courtesy visit of the institute’s team to his office pledge to support the drive by releasing a guideline that will compel the employees to register as the institute’s members.

“We are presently on a drive to achieve an additional 3,000 members for the Institute within the next one year. Pursuant to this, I led a delegation of the CIIN to visit the Commissioner for Insurance in Abuja on the 12th of September, 2017. After our deliberations, the Commission graciously 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. The insurance commissioner, had in his early days as the Deputy Commissioner for insurance technical emphasised the need to enthrone the regime of professionalism in the industry.

Only recently, Kari, had observed the need for a reawakening to ensure professionals are continually trained, re-trained and equipped with prevailing skills and knowledge for optimal performance in line with international best practice.

Irked by the seeming lack of professionalism in the conduct of their business, BabingtonAshaye insisted that those who work in insurance firms must obtain the required training and qualification to play by the rules.

She also disclosed that the institute has continued the drive for insurance awareness creation through visiting and sharing of insurance text books to schools as well as partnering with the authority of the National Youth Service corp centers.

“More strategically, we have taken the insurance awareness campaign to the youths, the leaders of tomorrow. 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 CatchThem-Young Initiative”.

Accrding to her,the pilot edition of the programme kicked off at the Lagos state NYSC Camp during the November 2017 Orientation Exercise where a career talk was organised for the benefit of Corps members.

She further said to reinforce the above measures, her regime recently led a delegation of the institute’s Council to donate Insurance study texts published by the Institute to secondary schools in Abuja through the State Education Board of the Federal Capital Territory Authority.