CISI targets 1,000 members in Nigeria
The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) in Nigeria has set an ambitious target of a 1,000 active registered members in no distant time.
The President of the Nigeria National Advisory Council of the global professional body, Ijeoma Onwu, said this at the weekend, in her welcome address, during CISI Nigeria Members Forum in Lagos that the NAC had put in place strategies to move the institute forward.
She said, “Our membership has progressed over the years. We are targeting more numbers in the future. By this time next year, we hope to have 1,000 active members at the institute working with us.
“I and my team are looking at a lot of things to do to move the institute forward. We have inculcated e-learning programmes into our mode of operation. I want to enjoin you to make use of it and it is free of charge It keeps you up-to -date in the financial industry.”
Onwu reminded the members to take advantage of the global opportunities provided by the CISI certification examinations.
“Globally we have over 40,000 members of the institute. Our organisation is global and you can work anywhere in the world with its certification. We should make use of the opportunities we have in this organisation,” she stressed.
Addressing the CISI members on the “The Imperatives of Whistle Blowing and Speaking Up for Sustainable Financial System,” the Director, Global Business and Development, Kelvin Moore explained that speaking up in case of impropriety required courage.
According to him, speaking up is a form of whistleblowing but stressed the essence of speaking up and listening up, especially in the world of finance.
“Listening up is listening to what is going on around you. It is not good speaking up if people don’t listen. The main thing is having the courage to listen when someone is speaking. By listening up, we would hear things that are unpleasant. When people speak up, they need assurance that they will be protected if something happens,” said Moore.
He noted that to encourage people to speak up, the employer must make them feel safe, through anonymous hotlines.
The Divisional Head, Business Technology and Digital Innovation at Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc, Tobe Nnadozie advised managers to get a good performance system as the world of work had continued to evolve.
Nnadozie, who spoke on “Building Resilience in the Financial System,” urged managers to prepare against the mass emigration of talents from Nigeria.
“If you don’t prepare, it will hit you. People now do multiple jobs. What you need from the person is: can the person deliver? Do you have a good performance management system in place that would measure the work you are doing? It is going to be contractual and everything has to be documented. Nothing is going to change but track people and reward them accordingly. Begin to build a system after this new world,”he said.
Nnadozie noted that innovation, research, and development were very important for any firm that hoped to succeed in this current world. He attributed the current incessant failed online banking transaction in Nigeria to lack of innovation and people management.
The CISI Members Forum was well attended and highly interactive.
