Bola Temowo’s coming as CIIN president puts loss adjusting on scale
The Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) would soon witness a new touch in its leadership, with the coming onboard of Bola Temowo, a professional loss adjuster and managing director, International Loss Adjusters Limited. This time is remarkable basically because it is the first time a practicing loss adjuster is coming to lead the over 50-year-old institute as president and chairman of council.
Temowo, who was born into an insurance family, has got a lot of experience having been an underwriter, broker and currently a loss adjuster. What comes out of his tenure as CIIN president would go a long way in determining the future of Nigerian loss adjusters, the reason being that the loss adjusting profession in Nigeria has over the years suffered negligence and untold hardship having been fleeced off life by underwriters who owe it immensely for services rendered.
Already described by many as endangered arm of the insurance industry, loss adjusting in the country has hardly attracted new employment from insurance graduates in recent times and as such the sector is dominated by ageing practitioners who also could hardly pay well or offer quality training to attract new generation of youths.
Temowo, who will be taking over from Fatai Kayode Lawal, outgoing president, on Thursday, June 19, 2014 at an investiture slated for the External Ballroom of the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, is expected to realign the loss adjusters into the mainstream of the market, not moving them away from their profession but making them become more visible in the industry.
His presence as the chairman of the CIIN council should give him the opportunity to redefine the future of loss adjusters in Nigeria by using his position to discuss the plight of that sector at any level in the insurance industry. His success at this would also be dependent on how well the market receives him, but he stands to help his constituency.
Prior to joining International Loss Adjusters, he had successful stints with Hogg Robinson Nigeria, Crusader Insurance and the defunct ACEN Insurance.
Temowo, 53, who hails from Ijebu-Igbo in Ogun State, began his educational sojourn at Sacred Heart Private School, Ring Road, Ibadan. He had his secondary education at St. Patrick’s Grammar School, and his A’ levels at Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos, in 1979. He proceeded to the University of Lagos, having gained admission in 1979 to study History. He bagged a Bachelor of Arts with honours in 1982 and Masters of Public Administration (MPA) in 1984 from the same university.
In 1982, the young Bola commenced his National Youth Service at Hogg Robinson Nigeria, a frontline insurance broking firm, from where he proceeded to Crusader Insurance in 1986. He qualified as Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute (ACII) London in 1989 and a Fellow of the London Institute in 1996. He moved to T. A. Braithwaite Insurance Brokers as senior broker, and later assistant general manager.
Temowo’s career had snowballed into an impeccable one. He attained the position of deputy general manager before exiting in 1995 to join International Loss Adjusters Ltd on the demise of his father. His path to the CIIN presidency is paved by a consistent and committed membership of the institute, having served in various committees since 2002.
Modestus Anaesoronye