New NCRIB Boss Says Body Aims To Be Insurers’ Authoritative Voice.
The newly appointed Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Council of Registered Brokers (NCRIB) Tope Adaramola said as a critical stakeholder in the Nigerian insurance industry, the Council is positioning to be an authoritative voice of the market.
Adaramola in a recent interview with InsideBusinessNG in which he listed his plans for the market and also the requirements to enhance its growth, commended the Commissioner for Insurance, Sunday Thomas on his commitment to take the industry to lofty heights.
“We are positioning ourselves to be an authoritative voice in the industry starting with brokers. If you come to our Council today, we already have a Research Department in place which, of course, is in sync with what I am trusting God to do now. If you want to have statistics or figures of how many brokers we have in Nigeria or you want to have the figures of the brokerage income per year so that when you play around all these then the industry would have protected itself by being highly professional and highly respected rather than how we have been doing it before,” he said
On staff, he said he’s working to make sure they (staff) have a buy-in in the ownership of the Council.
According to him, while we maintain discipline, we also make them know that this is our own so that everybody owns it. We are making them realise that look, if all of us do well here, there will be no need to bring somebody from outside, but if we don’t own it and if you allow the present secretariat leadership to fail, then definitely all of us have failed because they will say what did you do when we gave you the opportunity?
The NCRIB as the marketing arm of the industry has 450 registered Brokers and keep growing as more come into the fold year on year.
Adaramola seeks constructive engagements between the operators and the authorities ahead of policy formulation as it is being embraced by the various constituent groups the NCRIB, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and the Institute of Loss Adjusters (ILAN) whom he commended for their contribution in pushing the industry forward.
“Let me first salute the present leadership of the Commission under the Commissioner for Insurance (CFI) in the person of Mr. Olorundare Sunday Thomas as well as other constituent bodies’ leadership including NCRIB, NIA and even the Institute of Loss Adjusters (ILAN) because where the industry was yesterday is not where it is today – in terms of innovation, in terms of creativity, even though there is still room for improvement.
“Today we may not know the value of what we hold in our hands but outsiders know that’s why you now have a foray of foreign investors who are coming into the industry even at the level of broking and in the level of the underwriter. We now have new ownership which I don’t want to mention the name here – foreign and major investors who are renowned to be bankers and investment people before coming into the industry. It shows that there is something about this industry that many of us have not seen and it is quite positive for the industry.
“However, the industry should be able to sit down and tidy itself from the home front. There must be more constructive engagements between the operators and the authorities.
“The industry needs to be more consensual in what it wants to do. Let there be a consensus. Let there be sufficient stakeholders engagements before policies are enunciated so there won’t be backlashes like some of the things we are having now.
“Commendations should be given to the Commissioner for Insurance (CFI) for introducing more friendliness to the regulatory oversight of NAICOM. Gone are the days you have something that looks like a Headmaster and Pulpil relationship which should not be; and this Commissioner has personified excellence stakeholders relationship. And the tranquillity the industry is experiencing now is also partly to his leadership attribute.
On his plans for the council, said it will anchor on three-layer relationship in tandem with the plans of the leadership of the Council.
“Let me first emphasize that whatsoever the plans that I have should also be in tandem with the plans of the leadership of the Council under the leadership of the Presidency as well as the board. But, however, I agree that as a CEO, I have some form of leverage and that the board, as well as the leadership of the Council, will also be looking at me to help them or assist them as usual in driving their tenure for them to be successful. So, one of the things that I realized is the fact that for any professional body like ours to succeed, the relationship is key. So this administration by the grace of God will anchor on relationship both internal and external.
“We will be looking at those things that excite our members and those things that put them off. We will be looking at our records – ten years ago how many people were here with us? Today how many are still with us? How many have fallen on the wayside? What made them to fall? We will be looking at engaging our members regularly, scientifically on what exactly they expect from us as value, that is internal relationship.
“On external, we have even started the engagements because there is no professional body that will be successful when you operate in isolation. We are surrounded by other strategic stakeholders and allied professions that we have to reach out to. As am speaking to you now, we have started reaching out to the Institute for Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) which for instance, is one of the most renowned professional bodies that we have in Nigeria.
“We have extended our tentacle of relationship. Very soon our secretariat will visit their secretariat. Our Council President will also visit their Council President. We are doing a similar thing to the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. We are doing so for the Institute of Personnel Management. And why are we doing all these? These are individual professionals which are bonded under those associations with which insurance brokers who are our members ultimately will relate.
“Take, for example, you want to go and broker a company, the most delighted person you are going to find there is probably the accountant or the head of finance who will engage you and if this person does not have an understanding of what you do then how will you help your members. The same thing for the Nigerian Institute for Public Relations; and of course you know the National Insurance Commission is a very pivotal institution that we must direct their attention to and continue to drum in the ears of our leadership which they know we have to relate perfectly with.
“Brokers are tired of being in the background and they have also reached out to the Nigeria Economic Summit Group so that they can be invited and given a role to play. But it all starts at the point of engagement, so that is why I say this administration will anchor on the relationship.
“We have a-three layer relationship: the first one is internal which is at home, the second one is external within the confine of Nigeria and the third one is the international relationship which we must maintain, Adaramola explained,
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