NAICOM to Establish Sub-regional Training Academy

By Ebere Nwoji

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has said that it will set up an institution it tagged ‘NAICOM Academy,’ to provide the training need of regulators across West Africa.

The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Sunday Thomas, who stated this recently, during the investiture of 50th president of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Muftau Oyegunle, said establishment of the regulators’ training academy was necessitated by NAICOM’s concern for specialised regulators’ training.

He, however, assured that the new academy would not compete but complement the activities of the CIIN, which is the training arm of the industry.

“Let me remind us all that to achieve the objectives of the founding fathers of the Institute, greater commitment and collaboration is required of us.

“The institute has come thus far due to the sacrifices and selflessness of all its past leaders and members of the Council. We can only improve on this and take it to the next level,” the Commissioner stated.

Thomas, reiterated that the COVID-19 has presented a new challenge to the insurance sector, thus, a paradigm shift from the usual way of practice has become inevitable.

“What this means in essence is that insurance practitioners must learn to inculcate the new world order brought about by the COVID-19 experience. This has become an imperative rather than an option.

“Suffice it to say that critical times require critical measures. The challenges before the institute during and post COVID-19 are enormous; how you do your marketing for new members, how you run your
education, seminars, where and how you conduct your examinations for prospective members will all be affected by the prevailing circumstance,” he said.

He said the institute, more than ever before must embrace technology as a key driver of development.

“It is no longer news that the Commission is committing huge resources to actuarial development in the country in collaboration with the institute through the College of Insurance and Financial Management though the entire process has been affected by the advent of the COVID-19,” he added.

In his acceptance speech, Oyegunle, said the theme and focus of his tenure will be on reinforcing professionalism and ethics.

He said the choice of the theme was borne out of the need to establish a rolling plan which would guarantee that even in the face of current global uncertainties, the institute would continue to meet the needs of members.