‘How to resolve rancour among underwriters and agents’

 

The cold battle between some underwriters and their agents portend great damage to insurance industry development if not checked. President Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) Dr. Wole Adetimehin, in this interview with Chuks Udo Okonta, said the institute will rise to this challenge by urgently evolving training programmes, that will bring companies executives, their branch managers, head of marketing and agents’ association to tackle the beef.

 

What is the industry doing to encourage relationship among operators?    

Just as I mentioned when I was delivering my acceptance speech on June 17, 2011, for many years, if we have had this kind of bonding, that is being put in place,  it could have been as robust, meaningful and effective, as the one I contemplated  and I have actualised by His grace. What was in place many years, has been, the various arm of the industry, approaching and sorting out issues with our regulator one-on-one, whether the interest of the other arms are affected or would be affected, there has never been any recognition of that possibility. At the end of the day, in the past, we often have conflict of interest. The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) would have sorted itself out, whether the interest of brokers is taken care of nobody bothers. The other day, the Nigeria Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), would approach the regulator with issues, they would be trashed out, whether the   Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria (ILAN), has been stepped upon, nobody bothers. But under this new concept or initiative, we can be seen as putting all the arms of the industry together under one umbrella. And at regular intervals, we would be speaking with our regulator. I remember at the time of my investiture, I said, some group or forum that can be likened to Bankers Committee. That was what I was trying to replicate. And issues and challenges affecting industry operators, no matter the arm of the industry you are representing can be tabled, analysed, and well sorted out. We would be saving time, unnecessary dissipation of energy without achieving much and collectively, with one voice, we can make pronouncement. I want to let you know that the objective behind this concept has been well embraced by the various arms, including our regulator. The Commissioner has endorsed this initiative. The name we have agreed to give it is Insurance Industry Consultative Committee (IICC). The executives of the various arms have met, to reappraise the modalities, the objective, constitution  of membership, regularity of frequency of meetings, chairmanship of the body, administration of the body, who qualifies to be member of the committee and all these, have been peacefully resolved and conveyed to the commissioner who endorsed the initiative. Because the various arms have their executives, they would be members of the Insurance Industry Consultative Committee (IICC). Before coming to meetings, they would have met at their council, issues bothering on their operations and practice would have been harnessed and packaged for the committee meeting that would normally be chaired by the commissioner. Because this is an initiative of the institute, the reigning president and all past presidents of the institute would qualify as automatic members of the committee. For the other arms, their current presidents and the immediate past presidents with their executives would be members of the committee. At the time the commissioner for insurance was endorsing this initiative, he said he gladly let room for willing chief executives from any arm of the industry that could create time and willing to attend meetings. I do not want to say that, that added value came from his experience when some of our chief executives officers would for one reason or other fail to attend meetings. He said he has thrown it open and allow everybody to come. Going by his experience, he has the reservation whether they would come.  And if they come, would they speak their mind? But if they have channeled all that they have as issues bothering their practice through their executives and we are locked up in hall or syndicate room, such issues can be trashed out. And such avenue would leave room too, for the commissioner to intimate the industry practitioners with up and coming rules, guidelines, new laws or developments and we would surely take such opportunity to chip in our feelings, contributions, before these rules, laws and guidelines become operational or effective. That in a nutshell explains the reasons and objectives underlined the bond being promoted.

What is the institute doing to enable operator maxiamise benefits of local content policy?

I would say this has remained recurring challenge facing our industry. It is more prominent with the underwriters. Nobody can fault the underline reason of the local content policy initiative and it is meant to cut across all the sectors of the Nigerian economy. But in appraising the benefits so derived from the insurance sector, we are all having the fears as to what conclusion or report card we would give at this time. This is because from all facts available in real and concrete terms we are yet to begin. Yes, there has been some participation here and there, but it is still far from the real intention and I think the industry should be addressing these challenge in a more pragmatic manner and one of such strategies, would be to really come together, sit down a evolve practical solution. The whole idea or approach of everybody going about it alone can hardly resolve this challenge. At our level as an institute, the challenge to us is to promote training modules and curriculums that would open or widen the mindset of practitioners as to what to do. Capital base of companies have grown considerably, in fact, beyond imaginable scope. But beyond capital, there is a lot more that is expected. You do not underwrite or shoulder risks with your capital. You can only provide infrastructures that would propel you to underwrite. What needed to be developed is the capacity to absolve. And I can tell you, that the experience has been fairly good in the oil and gas. But if and if stakeholders can come together under pool formations, just like we have been canvassing, at many levels capacity would grow. We would even go beyond the shore of Nigeria to absolve risks. Stakeholders out there should be advised to shun independent approach to doing things and align more effectively to the fundamentals of insurance practice globally which is pooling and sharing of risks. Primarily, in our market, we should evolve the concept of pool formation and working together, that is the only way we can grow our capacity.

What is CIIN doing about upgrading its chapters?          

More than ever before, our chapters executives are been challenged to be a lot more focused on their objectives of having a professional body and expanding out. That era is gone when anybody canvass to be chapter chairman or executive only for the purpose of making his curriculum vitae more robust or becoming a local champion over there.  They are now all expected to develop an annual strategic action plan that would be approved by the national headquarter. The plans would be rigorously monitored for practicable and resourceful actualisation. They would now also, take the privilege and opportunity of attending council meetings of the chapter chair, and when they come, reports from branches would be taken and if they have anything they too can raise. The Nigeria landscape is quite large and there is very little we can do from the national headquarter, except we grow our chapters.  We have appreciated the need to collaborate more with our chapters, without unduly having to deny them of the need empowerment to be able to function. Schools, colleges and universities are growing all over the place, local governments are almost attaining the status of a state, and we need to grow our membership and take insurance further down to the grassroots. If our chapters are virile, very well established, all these can be delivered in good time.  Mandatory Continuous Professional Development (MCPD), the way we normally do it is to carry it through the six geographical zones.

What is the institute doing about insurance curriculum in schools?

We have not been folding our arms, because we have the roles and responsibility when it comes to training and education of insurance in the country. If the government is saying that insurance should be offered in secondary schools in the country, without unduly giving us the matching order, that we should provide faculty, facilitators, textbooks, and all what not, we know what is expected of us. As we are talking now, I know a number of the industry persons that are writing textbooks that would suit the secondary education level and the higher institutions. As we have it as a challenge, the benefits to the industry and the professional body is quite visible, because it is going to provide employment opportunities for people. Our approach to growing and developing the profession in this country, within the next decade, would surpass what is found in Europe. I cannot say that of America, for we are tailored to what is obtained in Europe. Our approach and the way we are going with it would transient what is found in Europe. Because in practical terms, more than 50 per cent of Nigeria polytechnics are offering insurance, at the university level, they have gone beyond first degree; they are offering it at post graduate level. You do not come across such developments even in Europe. I recounted an experience of universities looking for external examiner, and they went and search all over place, a few of the universities offering post graduate programmes, in the United Kingdom has had to relied on industry practitioners as facilitators of the programme. They had to partner to actualise such programme. I am saying this authoritatively, because we have children that have benefits from the programme. At the institute level, we would work a lot more, on encouraging our members to develop text books while making them, available to engage in lecturing or teaching at the secondary school level. The institute would continue to give support in all their school programmes, we would give text books, deliver lectures and promote this profession. We also have plans to partner with all the states ministry of education that could fast track the facilitation of this directive from the federal ministry of education. And one of those things that would help them in the implementation is what we are doing. We would tell them that we have textbooks, that we have lecturers that are willing that will drive the courses.

What CIIN is doing about concentration of insurance companies in Lagos and Abuja?

Our robust platforms of chapters are one strategic move that would help actualise the need for spread. We are also keying into the current development of micro-finance products. In literary terms, these are development of personal lines that is taking insurance to the grassroots. We have our barriers, we have obstacles, take it or leave, and we just have to surmount these challenges, because a great number of percentages or proportion of our population is semi literate. Some of them do not even have bank accounts and we are talking of e-transact. But the practical approach would be to do the two side-by-sides, we want to do e-transact and the manual, we have to encourage them to key into e-transact. The Central Bank of Nigeria under their regulation, they have encouraged the banking institutions to break, you either want to be a national banking institution, state, mortgage or retail banker. We really have challenges, because unlike in the past that you see branches spring up all over, right now, I think they are managing. For insurance, we would never relent in helping the government of the day know, that whatever result, whatever progress, development, we are going to achieve in this economy, a lot has to done in improving infrastructures within the system. When the right infrastructures are there, unemployment would go, people would get better payroll at work, productivity will be a lot better, insecurity would reduce drastically, crime rate and all sort. We would not relent in joining our voices with other pressure groups in telling government to provide good leadership and provide functional and sustainable infrastructures. All we are canvassing would work out naturally when there is good governance.

What CIIN is doing about emerging risks?   

By our roles and responsibilities under our charter, we should be seeing at all time packaging the right curriculum and develop programmes for all stakeholders. Our global exchange programmes has always focused on these areas.

I remember when we were in South Africa, we had brain storming sessions and in that particular entourage, we had a reasonable number of insurance executives, we had solid sessions, met with companies, on underwriting of terrorism, kidnapping and other political risks.

I want to believe that, quite a number of the companies, must be working on evolving suitable packages. I had at different fora, canvassed the need for government provision of intervention fund. This is because, some of these risks, if they become a reality, their effects will be devastating and very catastrophic and the only way at the formative stage is for government to come up with a type of intervention fund, that will provide relief  to insurance companies stakeholders, that will be willing to underwrite these kinds of risks.

I can tell you that we are not relenting on our efforts, and we are not relying only on our own local capacity, we are robbing minds with experts beyond our shores, and when some of these products and packages are coming up, it would be a collaboration of concept ideas and efforts.

 

What is CIIN doing about agent management and administration?

 

Let me state in clear terms what has been the roles of our institute on agent management. Under the new or the current operating NAICOM guidelines on the administration and licensing of agents, all prospective agents, are mandated to undergo a proficiency training programme normally packaged by our institute. I want to remark that we have made tremendous progress, but we must pay attention to the various categories of agents out there. We have independent agents, some of them working on their own, representing companies of their choice, we have agents that are engaged by insurance companies and they are strictly in an agreement to work for those companies on whatever terms they have agreed. Third category of agents would normally be sponsored to undergo this proficiency training. The whole essence of the training is to obtain certification from our institute that would be presented to NAICOM before they can be licensed. We have reached an understanding with NAICOM, that our fees would portray human face. If we are out to provide quality training, in fact good skills and knowledge, we need good experts and facilitators, we must provide study materials, and all these would cost money. We have succeeded in reaching a meaningful understanding with NAICOM, such that what an average agent, either self sponsored or company sponsored, would pay is reasonable. They have to pay N12, 500. As a matter of fact the fee is N10, 000. The N12, 500 would qualify them to register as a member of the institute. We have also let room for any company that can put together a large number of agents, that could provide an in-house facility, so that all we needed do is take our facilitators there with our materials and impart the skill and knowledge and that would be considerably less than N10,000. In the last one, two years, the programme has being running very well. The issue of conflict between agents and companies officials is new and strange to us at the institute, but it is not unexpected, there is bound to be conflicts and disagreements and the solution we can proffer at our level, is to capitalise on this challenge, evolve a programme for management and administration for the agency workforce whereby we drag the companies executives including their branch managers and head of marketing in collaboration with the National Association of Agents in this country and bring them together from time to time to training and resolve such issues.

What will become of CIIN when the college takes off?

Right now the college is trying on how it would walk on its own. Without unduly praising ourselves, for once, we are proving all doubting Thomas’s, out there wrong that insurance as a body in the country cannot deliver. We are delivering and we would do more. The first phase of the college has been completed, the second phase is about starting, the job has been awarded and they are moving to site anytime from now. On June 11, the council will be paying an official visit to the site. The whole essence is to showcase what we have been able to do to all stakeholders. We are still working at getting all stakeholders to show more commitment, but what we have on ground is enough to prove that the project is fast becoming a reality. Rectors’ applications have been taken; interview sessions would be conducted any time from now. Curriculum development for takeoff is nearing completion. But the second phase of the job would take us another 18 weeks for them to deliver. That would include the 50-room hall of residence, staff quarters, these are what we have in the phase two of the project and we have 18 weeks to achieve this, and we have mobilised the contractors. But it could be a lot faster, if we get commitment, involvement and support of members. We are not relenting; we would keep pleading canvassing among ourselves so that we can quickly open the doors. The college for some time to come, would remain an arm of the institute, but will have an autonomous management; there would be a rector, registrar, boxer and faculty. Reasons is that it would still be the role and responsibility of the institute to fund until we are satisfied that they can attain their independence and autonomy. The college would report to council but in the long run, they would have autonomy. Even in the short run, they would have all necessary empowerment to make the place function. We are professionals and we would not put any barrier that would not enable them to deliver. My hopes are so high that in decade insurance would be a different thing in this country.                          

 

Do you have any regret since your assumption of office?

I can tell you all there that there has been no regret. But without being immodest, I would say that there have been challenges. You will all agree that this is preoccupation of modern day’s managers. When there are no challenges, then we do not need scientific managers. But the challenges have been managed in the most effective manner. One of such challenges is getting the commitment of our professional members, as well as corporate institutions. When such commitment and cooperation is total, the result could be overwhelming. We are aware of these in council, and we are evolving appropriate strategies to manage this kind of challenge such that in the future, one can secure a total commitment of members. Our hopes are very high, one of our justifications, is in our new information and technology platform that is ready. We all appreciate the usefulness of having a modern day information and technology platform. What we have got in place, without being immodest, is robust and efficient in all ramification. These are some of the assurances why our hopes are raise, that challenges facing our body, just like any other institution out there are being strategically attacked.