I Foresee Insurance Industry In 60 Years Becoming Better Sector – Tope Adaramola, NCRIB CEO

Mr. Tope Adaramola, Executive Secretary/NCRIB CEO

The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Mr. Tope Adaramola, in this Interview with EDET UDOH, expressed his feelings about being part of the Council’s 50th and 60th anniversaries. He also spoke on some salient issues concerning NCRIB and the industry generally. Excerpts:

How do you feel being part of the 50th and 60th-anniversary celebrations of NCRIB?

I must say that being part of the history of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers’ 60th anniversary is one of the happiest moments in my professional career, especially being at the topmost
position in the Council Secretariat at the time when the Council is celebrating its 60th anniversary. I am most excited because I was here ten years ago also when the Council celebrated its 50th anniversary because I joined this Council in 2003, and I have spent close to 20 years here and you understand the fact that I have spent a greater chunk of my career life with the Council.

Even though I came in here as the Head of Corporate Affairs and Public Relation, It’s been very gratifying to note that: by the grace of God, commitment and diligence have risen to the pinnacle of the Council’s administrative duty that is the Secretariat by being the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer.

Recall ten years ago, I was also a part of the celebration when we had our 50th anniversary. At that time I was a Director of Corporate Communications and a whole lot of loads of planning, and implementation was on my head but I was not the head, but now that this is coming under my direct leadership, I think I’m very delighted because it gives me a sense of fulfilment to be a part of a journey that started out in 1962 by a few operators who gathered to take advantage of the nation’s emerging economy post-independence.

For that institution to have weathered all odds to attain the status that it has attained today, I think it calls for a great celebration from everybody including myself whose career has been tied to this place for so long. I feel very elated to be a part of this 60th anniversary and I feel that is the same way so many of my staff would also feel.

How many departments do you have in the Council?

At the moment we have eight departments; we have the office of the Executive Secretary which is myself; the office of the Assistant Executive Secretary where my Assistant is heading; we have the Legal Department, which is in charge of our legal matters both within (with our members) and without (with the outside publics).

We also have the Corporate Communications and Public Relations Department which, of course, handles our image and public relations needs; we have Membership Department which is a very critical department also
because that is a clearinghouse for our members – that is where their certificates and everything that has to do with their registrations are kept.

We have the Research and Development Department, which is a new and upcoming department to meet the need of the Council at this time because the issue is that the industry and the Nigerian nation generally is a nation that plans without figures: they plan without data, they plan without statistics and the Council feels that this
narrative must change with regards to the role of Brokers in the nation’s financial ecosystem.  So this department is in charge of research and development.

We also have the Finance Department, where you have the account both within and without; we have the Compliance and Audit Department, to ensure that the Council attunes itself to the Corporate Governance
Code, to ensure that ethic is maintained both within the organization as well as among our membership; the Human Resources/Admin and Training Department is responsible for taking care of human capital development, and the administration of the secretariat, as well as the training which is part of the mandate of our Council.

Looking beyond broking, how do you see the insurance industry in the next 60 years?

I foresee insurance in 60 years becoming a better sector, a better sector in terms of ethics; a better sector in terms of better regulation; a better sector in terms of the embrace of information and communication
technology which definitely would drive the future of work and the future of the profession.

All the initial challenges that we are having now we will get over them. Just as 60 years ago, you cannot compare the industry then with what you have today. So, I think more positively that 60 years to come, the industry would be better and generally, I can foresee that there would be more need for people to insure which in itself will
translate into a better NCRIB with better insurance broking duties and
roles/

I also see a better contribution by the insurance industry to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) than what it is which is abysmally low. What fuels my optimism is the fact that I see a better regulation, I see some greater firmness on the part of the regulator to enforce those insurances firstly, that is supposed to be
compulsory and also secondly to create a greater regulatory ambience for the industry to operate and to deepen its penetration across the country.

Some of these are in the seed already being sown now by the regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and by all the Secondary Regulatory Organs (SROs) what I mean by SROs, I’m talking about the NCRIB, the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA). Even though we may not be seeing the seed now but definitely they will germinate for all of us to see. I foresee the industry that will be stronger; I foresee the insurance industry that will contribute more to GDP; I see an industry that will be more cohesive in terms of collaboration to eliminate some of those image challenges that used to confront us in the past as we take to the pages of the newspapers.