The Federal Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) has stated that in a drive to fill the actuary skill gap, it has employed grassroot orientation programmes and support for the best 10 graduating students in Masters of Actuarial Science.
Olasunkanmi Ayinde, head, directorate of actuarial standards at FRC stated this at the orientation exercise for the newly admitted Postgraduate Students of the department of Actuarial Science and Insurance which was held on Wednesday.
Ayinde said there are 28 actuarists in Nigeria with five associates and 23 fellows which is not acceptable because of the number of insurance companies, banks and other financial institutions which need their services.
“We realised that actuarist are too little which is why we went to the grassroot level.
“We went to secondary schools in the form of advocacy outreach to educate students about who an actuary is and with that the students are showing interest to apply for the in university,” Ayinde said.
He stated that the University of Lagos has an accreditation to have an exception of six papers out of the papers which will help its masters student of Actuarial Science to be an associate.
At the orientation program, FRC committed to sponsor the best 10 graduating students to boost acceptance.
“We will support with a sponsorship program for the new intake this year. In 2025, the first best graduating student for masters will be paid for by this program,” he stated.
“Whoever passes the professional exam will be refunded to encourage them,” Ayinde said. “In Africa, Unilag is the only organised body that has IFoA Accreditation.”
Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) is the UK’s only chartered professional body dedicated to educating, developing and regulating actuaries.
Dallah Hamodu, head of the department of Actuarial Science & Insurance at the University of Lagos, while giving the welcome address said the school offers Bsc, Msc and PhD in actuarial science.
“With our relationship with Nigerian Actuarial Society (NAS), they have been able to bring people who can help our graduates to be fit for the industry,” he said.
He stated that the help from NAS is important for demand and supply because it will make sure that the product of the department is fit for the market which he thanked the Nigerian Actuarial Society for.
“For our next line, it is the accreditation of our undergraduate program which is most important because the young ones coming from secondary school are ready to learn and it will fulfill our dream,” Hamodu said.
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