New CIIN President Charges Insurers On Tech Innovation

The newly elected president of Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) Edwin Igbiti, has charged insurance practitioners to continue to be at the frontiers of technological innovations and trends, so as to thrive and drive impact.

Igbiti, who stated this at his investiture as the 51st President/Chairman of Council of CIIN in Victoria Island, Lagos on Friday, added that, this innovation will give the industry an hedge in the area of insurance penetration, acceptance and impacts on the general economy.

Stating that the theme and focus of his tenure will be ‘Building a sustainable Legacy,’ he maintained that, the choice of the theme was borne out of the need for continuity to sustain and build on the works of past presidents of the institute.
This, he added, would guarantee that despite current global uncertainties, the institute will continue to meet the needs and aspirations of its members.

He noted that against this backdrop, his presidency is going to unlock the potential of this approach by focusing on a three-point agenda namely: ‘Digital Reinforcement of Institute’s Operations; Insurance Awareness for all – Grassroot, Youths and Insuring Public and Infrastructural Development.’

Giving a further breakdown, he said, digital reinforcement of the institute would entails completion of the E-library project, commencement of E-Examinations, active presence and use of all available social media platforms.

Insurance awareness for all, he stressed, would cover grassroot, youths and insuring public; positive upscaling of the quiz for secondary schools to national limelight; distribution of insurance textbooks to secondary schools and effective coordination of the train-the-trainer program for insurance secondary school teachers, deepening and consolidating youth empowerment and mentorship initiatives.

On infrastructural development, he promised to undertake; renovation of the Lagos Street Building to acceptable standards; getting necessary approvals and clearance from the Lagos state government to resume the building of the Victoria Island Project and significantly increasing the building fund as would be agreed with the building committee.

He noted that, indeed, efforts have been made by his predecessors to revamp the digital operations of the institute, adding that, however, there is need to continuously upgrade and innovate the processes to deliver excellent customer experiences and members’ satisfaction.

To him, “my projection is that my tenure as President of the CIIN will facilitate the transformation of the CIIN Secretariat with the state-of-the-art facilities that would stimulate digital operations and processes, enhance excellent work culture which results in quality customer experiences in all our deliverables. Smart Technologies and digital solutions would be deployed to achieve this together with a viable business model.”

Speaking earlier, the chairman of the occasion, Oladele Fajemirokun, stated that, he is happy that a person in the mould of Edwin Igbiti is taking over the mantle of leadership of CIIN at this crucial period.

With the pivotal position the institute occupies in the financial ecosystem and the economy of this country., he said, there is no doubt that, over the years, CIIN has distinguished itself as one of the foremost professional bodies that has given cutting edge training to insurance professionals, who in turn are adding significant value, not only to the insurance industry, but the general financial ecosystem.

In spite of all the stringent efforts being made by the operators as well as professionals, insurance regrettably, he said, is still at the back waters of national economy contributing a paltry one per cent to the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) of the nation.

“Pointless to rehash some problems that have led to the recession of the industry bordering on poor image, low public acceptance and inadequate professional training impacting on the quality of professional insurance practitioners who interface with members of the public. But be that as it may, the industry has continued to make huge strides towards ensuring that this narrative is changed and permanently too.

“It is very apposite for me to say that the industry has been making giant strides in the area of embracing information technology which ultimately as we all know is the driver of global economy and there is no actor in the global economy, including insurance, that should lag behind when it comes to information technology,” he pointed out.