By Amaka Obiefuna

The outgoing President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Mr. Edwin Igbiti, has tabled before stakeholders in the insurance industry how he achieved his three-point agenda viz: Digital Reinforcement of Institute’s Operations; Insurance Awareness for all; and infrastructure and personnel development, when he assumed duty on Friday, July 15th, 2022.

During his valedictory speech at the Insurers House in Lagos, Mr. Igbiti who was the 51sth President of the Institute, maintained that his administration was able to complete the e-library project; commencement of e-examinations as well maximized all available social media platforms to advance the course of the institute.

Under his watch, he affirmed that insurance awareness was taken to the grassroot across all strata in Nigeria. More so, there was recorded a positive upscaling of the CIIN Quiz competition for secondary schools to the limelight.

The Institute equally distributed insurance textbooks to the secondary schools and ensured an effective coordination of the train-the-trainer programme for insurance secondary school teachers and launching of broking and loss adjusting course books.

“We deepened and consolidated youth empowerment and mentorship initiatives. On infrastructural and personnel development, we renovated the CIIN Secretariat to acceptable standards; got necessary approvals and clearance from the Lagos state government to resume the construction of the Victoria Island Project, significantly increased the building fund and trained our professionals.

“Despite the global disruptions, the Institute under my tenure was able to upscale its membership portal; the Insuresuite where we launched e-membership Card. Also, the activities of the Institute have been digitalised to encourage hybrid working and enhancement of our service delivery. These accomplishments have tremendously ensured members’ satisfaction as transactions have greatly improved”.

The insurance expert added that the e-library project is still ongoing even as the process of conducting the Institute’s Examination online was suspended in order to ensure that the integrity of the examinations was not compromised whenever it eventually kicks. Igbiti revealed that CIIN have platforms for its members in diaspora where the gap between diaspora members and the Institute is bridged with first-hand information from the Institute.

With the theme, ‘Building A Sustainable Legacy’ he added that the Institute supported all accredited institutions and tertiary institutions that offer insurance as a course of study in Nigeria with journals. This, he said, was extended to all international centers such as Seria Leone, Banjul, Cameroon and Gambia as journals were consistently sent to them for the use of student members and professionals.

“Plans are ongoing to replicate this gesture in other tertiary institutions offering insurance across the country and in more African countries. We ensured that the College of Insurance and Financial Management building was completed to global standards” he added.

Meanwhile, stakeholders and captains of industry commended his giants strides, urged him to always lend support to the Institute as a doyen in the industry. They encouraged Igbiti’s successor, Mrs. Yet under Ilori to face the tasks ahead of her with a lion’s heart and draw strength from her predecessor.