ADDRESS BY DR. WOLE ADETIMEHIN, PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN OF COUNCIL, CHARTERED INSURANCE INSTITUTE OF NIGERIA DURING THE INSTITUTE’S 2012 GRADUATION AND FELLOWSHIP AWARDS CEREMONY HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 5TH DECEMBER 2012 AT 10 DEGREES EVENT CENTRE, IKEJA, LAGOS STATE.
PROTOCOLS
It affords me great pleasure to be here today on the occasion of the 2012 Graduation and Awards Ceremony of our great Institute. Today marks yet another milestone in the annals of the Institute and in the continuing quest of our Governing Council in growing the Insurance Industry human capital, as well as ensuring that only fit and proper persons are entrusted with the onerous responsibility of managing insurance and reinsurance organizations in Nigeria.
Let me assure that the responsibilities conferred on the Institute by statute have continued to engender a robust platform for the propagation of insurance education in Nigeria. In particular, the Institute’s professional examinations have become deep-rooted and have, since 1992, produced home-bred professionals who have continued to perform creditably in their various endeavours, creating value by deploying their expertise in risk management, efficient underwriting and the promotion of enterprise by indemnifying businesses against losses when they occur.
As I welcome all graduands, awardees and distinguished guests to this year’s graduation and awards ceremony, I feel elated by the growing enthusiasm for the acquisition of professional insurance qualification. This fact is not only evident today by the growing number of qualifiers but also translates to an abiding consciousness in embracing professionalism in the business and practice of insurance.
Permit me to reiterate the fact that the men and women who today find fulfillment in the attainment of our invaluable professional qualification, are also accepting greater burden of responsibility as custodians of the ethics and codes of practice of our noble profession. They will be constantly reminded of the oath of allegiance to their professional calling as well as their vows to be of good conduct at all times.
As I congratulate the new Fellows and Associates, it is my fervent wish that these new feathers added to their caps will engender greater commitment to the Institute and the Insurance profession, as a whole. May I also convey the exhortation of the Governing Council concerning the very high expectations from the awardees as they must now begin to weigh the greater burden of responsibility conferred by their new status, against their personal interests. The Associateship and Fellowship awards call for greater integrity and this ought to remain the abiding principle for all of us, whether new Fellows or old recipients.
Years ago when some of us joined the prestigious Society of Fellows, we were informed that we had become trustees and custodians of our professional ethics and those who must set the pace in the practice of our noble profession. This statement remains a truism and must be adopted by members who are being honoured by virtue of today’s ceremony. As they swear to the oath of allegiance, let this be behind their minds with the resolve that none should let down the founding fathers of our great Institute by any acts of commission or omission.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, today’s graduation and awards ceremony follows the Governing Council’s ratification of the award of the Institute Fellowship to sixteen deserving members and the election of 134 members as Associates of our great Institute after satisfying the stipulated requirements. Let me state that the Institute has successfully demonstrated its commitment to the actualization of its three-tier examination structure which allows qualifiers at each level of the examination to obtain a certificate of completion. Ours, no doubt, is a flexible and learner-friendly examination structure geared at motivating greater interest in the attainment of professional qualification in order to address the industry human capital needs.
Permit me to reiterate the policy of Council in regarding all Certificates issued by the Institute as the Institute’s property which could be withdrawn from the holders if the Institute has good reasons to do so. Let me state categorically that the Institute reserves the right to withdraw its certificate from any holder, if it discovers any breach of the examination process. A further reason for such withdrawal of certificates may emanate from acts unbecoming of a holder of the Institute’s professional qualification.
I wish to emphasize the determination of the Institute to continually strengthen the examination system through regular review of the syllabus and examination structure. We are conscious of the Industry post consolidation challenges which came with new and complex human capital needs. The challenges facing the industry today not only require a fresh impetus in human capital development but also a renewed vigour and approach to skills recreation in order to equip practitioners for the huge tasks of managing the current realities in the business landscape.
I must assert, at this juncture, that the attainment of professional qualification should not be seen as an end in itself but as a means to an end. It therefore behoves all holders of professional qualifications to be mindful of the efficacy of Continuous Professional Development (CPD). As you are aware, the CPD has become institutionalized with varying degrees of enforcement by most professions. In our own case, it engenders a scheme which requires all members to locate themselves in the point scoring index, hence it is referred to by our Institute as the Mandatory Continuous Professional Development (MCPD) programme. No professional should exempt themselves from this scheme under any guise. The MCPD is, unarguably, an inalienable part of our professional development and should be treated as such.
It is pleasing to inform this august gathering that the Institute’s College of Insurance project has continued to progress as planned. The College will be flagged off officially during the first quarter of 2013. We are grateful to the individual and corporate sponsors, especially Leadway Assurance which has fully undertaken the construction of the College restaurant.
Let me end by calling on all arms of the industry to join the Institute in its awareness campaign aimed at making insurance part and parcel of the national consciousness, especially against the background of the worsening cases of floods, terrorism, kidnapping and insecurity. The citizenry need insurance and must now embrace it.
I wish to end by congratulating the Fellowship awardees and the graduands for their achievements. These attainments deserve commendation and celebration which explains why we have in our midst, the relations and friends of the graduands. You are all welcome.
Thank you for your attention and God bless.
DR. WOLE ADETIMEHIN
, ACII, FIIN, FCIB
President/Chairman of Council
No comments:
Post a Comment