Affects risk assessment, policy pricing, regulatory compliance

GUS WIGGLE

Gus Wiggle is the founder and principal consultant, Carefirst Consult

The severe shortage of actuaries in Nigeria has significantly impacted the financial sector and the insurance industry more significantly. Presently, we have less than 100 qualified actuaries in the country and the insurance companies are struggling to have a share of this number to support their services like risk assessment, policy pricing, and regulatory compliance.

The shortage of this skill may limit the capacity of the insurance companies to accurately evaluate risks, leading to potential financial losses because these actuaries help determine insurance premiums. Insufficient actuarial expertise can result in inaccurate pricing, affecting the competitiveness and profitability of insurance companies.

The shortage of actuaries may lead to non-compliance by some insurance firms, resulting in penalties and reputational damage, which would affect their rating.

The lack of actuaries hinders the growth of the insurance industry. Insurance companies may struggle to develop innovative products, expand their customer base, or improve their financial performance without adequate actuarial support.

Several factors contribute to the shortage of actuaries in Nigeria, some of which include limited education and training opportunities as we have not invested in building capacity in actuarial science programmes as only one university is taking that course in the country.

I do not think many Nigerians are aware of the actuarial profession, its importance, and the career opportunities it offers.

Most challenging is that the few we have ‘japad’ [emigrated] or are being enticed by external or international corporations as they emigrate to other countries in search of better career opportunities, thus contributing to the shortage.

The industry has been coping with the shortage by hiring actuaries from countries like South Africa and Kenya to fill the gap which comes at a huge cost.

My suggestion for a short and long term measure to address this shortage is for insurance companies to fund educational institutions by giving scholarships to exceptional students and collaborate with consulting firms to expose these students to access these specialised services while building capacity.

We already have a body of actuaries, they should be able to create a professional organisation to regulate the actuarial profession, set standards, and provide certification and finally fostering partnerships with international actuarial organisations to share knowledge, expertise, and best practices.