Insurance Institute threatens to withdraw certificates from errant holders

The Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) has threatened to withdraw the certificates of members who breach the examination process and engage in other unethical practices.

Lady Isioma Chukwuma, President of the Institute disclosed this over the weekend at the 2016 graduation and fellowship awards ceremony in Lagos that the certificates issued remains the institute’s property and could be withdrawn from the holders if the institute has good reasons to do so.

The President who was represented at the event by the Deputy President of the Institute, Mrs Funmi Babington-Ashaye, said the institute reserves the right to withdraw its certificates from any holder, if it discovers any breach of examination process, adding that a further reason for such withdrawal could emanate from acts unexpected of a holder of the institute’s professional qualification.

“The policy of our Council is that all Certificates issued by the Institute remain the Institute’s property and could be withdrawn from the holders if the Institute has good reasons to do so. Let me state unequivocally that the Institute reserves the right to withdraw its certificate from any holder, if it discovers any breach of the examination process. A further reason for such withdrawal of certificates could emanate from acts unexpected of a holder of the Institute’s professional qualification. This policy remains in force.”

She warned that the attainment of professional qualification should not be seen as an end in itself but as a means to an end, stressing that it therefore behoves all holders of professional qualifications to be mindful of the efficacy of continuous professional development (CPD).

“As you are aware, the CPD has become institutionalized with varying degrees of enforcement by most professions. In our own case, it engenders a scheme which requires all members to locate themselves in the point scoring index, hence it is referred to by our Institute as the Mandatory Continuous Professional Development (MCPD) programme,” she added.

She however, stressed that no professional should exempt themselves from the scheme under the guise of extremely busy schedules, adding that the MCPD is, unarguably, an inalienable part of our professional development and should be treated as such.

The Managing Director WAPIC Insurance Plc, Mrs. Adeyinka Adesoya, who was the Guest Speaker at the event, while delivering the Induction Lecture, entitled: The Insurance Profession and the Professionals, urged the inductees to esteem the ethics of their profession, stressing that unethical practices would lead to economic uncertainties, reduction in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and failure to buy insurance products.