By Henry Uche, [email protected]

The  Rector of the College of Insurance and Financial Management (CIFM) -Dr (Mrs) Yeside Abiodun Oyetayo,  is an interesting personality. She carries the insurance industry with dignity and poise.

In this interview with Daily Sun, she explains what CIFM is doing to address the challenge of inadequate manpower among other issues . 

Excerpts. 

CIFM was set up to fill the manpower” gap in the insurance sector. How have you been able to manage this challenge. The College is pivotal to manpower development in the Nigerian insurance industry. It has continuously partnered with various stakeholders within the industry to design training programme to alleviate the challenges with the dearth of requisite skills. This is evidenced by our programmes for different cadres which includes: agents, fresh graduates, professionals and even board members.

Agency Proficiency Workshops, Bancassurance Certifications, Retiree Life Annuity Workshops, Partnership training with International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Inclusive and Micro -Insurance, Annual Insurance Directors Conference, Induction and Diploma Programmes for new entrants into the industry. So, we’re on course to bridge that gap. 

What benefits does graduates of Economics, Accounting and Business Administration stand to gain from your institution? 

These are graduates of social and management sciences and their trainings creates the potential for them to build successful careers in insurance. We have several of such graduates on our Diploma in Insurance and induction programmes. You know insurance relates to all areas of life therefore, every one can build a career in insurance irrespective of their different educational background. 

Difference between insurance graduates from CIFM and others from higher institutions? Do you have any link with universities that offer insurance as a discipline? 

I believe you are referring to graduates from our Diploma programme, which is a post-graduate course, hence our students are already graduates.

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Our Diploma graduates with non-insurance background can use this qualification to get admission into a master’s programme in insurance and risk management. Furthermore, our graduates get exemptions in 10 out of 16 courses required for qualification as an Associate of the CIIN. We are in the process of getting affiliated with a few private universities offering insurance in Nigeria. We’re very hopeful on that. 

What’s the level of cooperation b/w CIFM and insurance companies? 

The College is well known and accepted brand in the insurance industry including NAICOM which is the regulatory body. We design and organise open house and customised training for all insurance companies. 

Research is one of your core mandates, what major Research have you carried out which has a national impact. 

We recently concluded two major research at the College. Our research team consisted of about 10 members from within the industry and the academia and we had two professors as research team leads. The first is the Skill Audit Research which revealed the skills gaps and shortages within the industry and the need to improve on welfare and training in the industry. The report of the Skill Audit has been submitted to the CIIN,  the sponsors while the second one focuses on the use of inclusive insurance amongst MSMEs. The draft of the report is undergoing independent review before we publish the final report. 

What quality of certificates does the college offer prospective students and graduants

The certificates we offer at the College include that of Bancassurance, Diploma in Insurance and Retiree Life Annuity.

None of these lead to immediate membership though candidates for agency workshops must mandatorily register for membership of the CIIN before a certificate of proficiency is issued for them by the CIIN. 

Apart from being in the insurance industry, what were the other contemplations of the founding fathers of the institution….many people wander what they could probably do with a narrow training in insurance. 

As part of our mandate, we also offer training in general and human resource management, accounting and etiquette. We are working on partnerships that would enable the College offer degree courses in the not-too-distant future. Insurance is becoming indispensable for everyone.