NIA lauds Kari’s appointment

Chuks Udo Okonta

The Director-General, Nigerian Insurers Association, Sunday Thomas, has welcomed President Buhari’s appointment of Mohammed Kari as the Commissioner for Insurance.

He told Inspen that the appointment is good for continuity and policy sustainability, adding that the industry will extend the same support given to former Commissioner Fola Daniel to him.

He said Kari’s success will be for the good of the industry.

Kari was on Friday last week announced as a successor of Fola Daniel, who was on the saddle of regulating the insurance industry for eight year.

Kari is a Chartered Insurance Practitioner with over 35 years Local and International Insurance and Management experience.  His experience stretches from the private to the public sector where he has managed the biggest companies in those sectors.

                             
He started his career with Royal Exchange Assurance Nigeria, Kano Branch, in 1979 after completing a Diploma In Insurance program. Two years later he proceeded to the Caledonian University Glasgow, Scotland to study; on full time basis; the Associateship of the Chartered Insurance Institute (ACII).  On return in 1984 he joined Yankari Insurance Company where he worked until 1989, when he was appointed as an Executive Director in Niger Insurance Plc.  In January 1992 he was appointed to the position of Managing Director/Chief Executive of Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation, a position he held until March 1993 when he was assigned to take over the Chief Executiveship at NICON Insurance Corporation, a leading company in the financial sector and the Insurance industry.  He served in that capacity until January 2000 when he resigned his appointment to set-up Arit Solutions Limited. He returned to Insurance management in 2007 as the Managing Director/Chief Executive of UnityKapital Assurance Plc, after consulting in the acquisition and merger of the three companies that form the entity (UnityKapital Assurance Plc.) He had since completed his four year tenure and resigned back to full time consulting.

On the Professional level, he has been exposed to various roles in the following: - West Africa Insurance Companies Association (WAICA)(Member, President and Chairman of Council for two consecutive terms), United Nation Committee on Trade and Development (UNCTAD): Financial services Committee (Vice Chairman for two consecutive sessions), African Insurance Organisation (AIO)(Governing Council Member), Council of the Bureaux of the ECOWAS Brown card scheme (Member, Chairman two consecutive sessions), Nigeria Insurers Association(NIA)(Governing Council Member), Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria(CIIN)  ( Governing Council Member), and many more.

In September 2001, he proceeded to the University of Central England in Birmingham, UK to undertake a MBA program.  He has since graduated with a Masters Degree in Information Management.  This is further enhanced by the obtainment of Professional Certification from the Learning Tree Centre in the United Kingdom for IT Management.
 

Kari started and run Arit Solutions Ltd; Information and Communication Solutions Company and was the Lead Consultant in Arit Consult Ltd, Insurance, IT and Management Consultancy.  

He was a member of the Nigerian Vision 2010, a member of the 20:2020 Committee and a recipient of the much-coveted African Insurance Organisation’s gold medal for excellence.

 He is happily married with children.