By Rosemary Onuoha

NEWLY elected President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Mr. Shola Tinubu, has pledged to streamline the office of the president to a ceremonial role by giving the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer and his team a level of empowerment as it is obtainable in other professions and climes.

File: From left: The Vice President, Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Mr. Bola Onigbogi; Deputy President, Mr. Shola Tinubu; President, Mr. Kayode Okunoren and the Managing Director, Zenith Life Assurance, Mr Chukwuemeke Igumbor at the brokers evening in Lagos.

Tinubu, who disclosed this at a media parley in Lagos, said the Secretariat of the Council, remains the regulatory body for the brokers and that the president is a broker and a competitor with other brokers in the industry.

He noted that prior to his investiture, his team had worked assiduously to arrive at one sustainable agenda, to ensure that insurance broking profession stands at par with its counterparts anywhere in the world.

“Definitely, this is an agenda that is intended to outlive this tenure and that is why, both the Deputy and Vice President of the Council had been deliberately made a part of its conception and subsequently the implementation.

“Essentially, our agenda and vision is to project NCRIB as a strong institution that will be propelled by professionalism. As a body that has international affiliation with organization like British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA), we are under obligation to benchmark our operation and growth pattern with such global institution.

“Among other things, we will ensure that the position of the President remains a ceremonial position, just like a Chairman of Board of corporate institutions, in consonance with provisions of corporate governance.

“The implication of this is that we shall empower the secretariat to discharge its responsibilities as it is expected. We are all aware that non-executive position change from year to year, leaving the secretariat permanent, and to ensure genuine institutional building, the Secretariat must be adequately empowered to drive the process at all times,” he said.

He disclosed that his team had drawn a 10 year-agenda for the Council, stressing that this was done in agreement with his next two successors, that is, the Deputy President and the Vice President. “This is to ensure that we bequeath a well-entrenched institution to upcoming generation,” he said. “As part of our agenda, we will open up retailing business which will increase insurance penetration. The Council will also continually invent ingenious programmes and explore opportunities for our members to enhance their interest and commitment to the NCRIB as their professional body.

“Bearing in mind the challenging economic climes that we operate today, the Council will see to it that all avenues to generate more revenue are deployed. We shall explore all our latent potentials and see to it that they become cash cows for us, bearing in mind that our Council does not enjoy any form of subvention or statutory financial support from any quarter,” he said.