Establish Office Of Actuarial General Of Federation, Don Urges FG

Afonne Emmanuel
Jan, Mon, 2021

Science & Tech

Establish office of Actuarial General of Federation, Don urges FG

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By Jacinta Nwachukwu

Dr Ismaila Adeleke, Lecturer, Department of Actuarial Science and Insurance, University of Lagos, has called on the Federal Government to create the office of the Actuarial General of the Federation, to enable Nigerians harness the rewarding opportunities in the field.

Adeleke, who was commenting at the end of a three-day postgraduate foundation course on Actuarial Science, organised by the National Mathematical Centre, (NMC) Abuja, said that creating the office would also help to promote the development of actuarial science in the country.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday that there were a lot of benefits attached to the profession, as actuaries were useful in the areas of health insurance and other insurance sub-sectors for proper risk assessment.

“Actuaries make use of mathematics and statistical tools, including knowledge of finance and economics, to estimate financial consequences of risk.

“In Nigeria, we have very few qualified actuaries, as at today we have less than ten of them residing in the country and there is so much opportunity for whoever can get involved and qualified.

“We have identified that candidates or graduates with requisite skills in mathematics are potential actuaries. That is why the National Mathematical Centre is taking this initiative to encourage and promote actuarial science, among graduates of mathematics and statistics.

“We want to attract as many Nigerians as possible into that field so that in the next few years, we shall start having qualified actuaries, which is highly rewarding in terms of remuneration,” he said.

He said that traditionally, actuaries were also very useful in the area of healthcare, as they helped in determining the price for healthcare; the capitation that they pay to the National Health Insurance Scheme, for instance, is done by actuaries.

“They play a big role in the pension industry, they play a significant role in the area of life insurance, general insurance and enterprise risk management.

“If there is risk anywhere, and you want to know the financial consequences of those risks, you have to bring actuaries on board,’’ he added.

Also speaking to NAN, Prof. Funmilayo Saporu, the Coordinator, Statistics Programme of NMC, facilitators of the course, said it was targeted at Graduate Assistants, Master’s students and Masters degree holders, from tertiary institutions nationwide.

Saporu said that the course, on a branch of statistical mathematics, was done virtually, adding that the programme aimed to expose young Nigerians to the field and profession.

“They are actually called actuaries and there are very few of them in the country. So the National Mathematical Center, as one of its mandates is to train, decided to expose young Nigerians to the profession for the first time,’’ he said.

According to him, the number of actuaries in the country are very few and it is a lucrative profession, hence the need to expose young Nigerians to it for better job opportunities.

“So, we are now exposing the young Nigerians those with Masters, PHD and interested others, into training them on aspects of Actuarial Science. We sent out invitations to more than 300 participants and we had over 100 participants in the three-day training workshop,” Saporu said.

He also expressed satisfaction at the turnout of the participants which, he described, as very overwhelming while expressing his hope that some of them would become actuaries in the future.

Saporu further said that the centre partnered with some lecturers from the University of Lagos to train the participants, as it was the only university offering the course in Nigeria, urging other universities to establish their own department so as to promote the profession. (NAN)

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