By Sunday Ani
Born to the family of Mr. Godfrey and Mrs. Alice Okehi of Orogwe, in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State, some 70 years ago, Dr. Dan Okehi is unarguably a giant in Nigeria’s insurance and risk management sector.
An insurance leader par excellence, he started his childhood education at Orogwe Community Primary School, from where he proceeded to Amuzi Grammar School, in Mbaise, to complete his secondary school education.
The young Okehi had a three-year stint with the Imo State Ministry of Education as an auxiliary teacher, during which period he sat and passed his A’ Level exams before gaining a direct admission into the University of Lagos.
His excellent performance in three A’ Level subjects, Economics, Management and History, paved the way for a direct entry admission by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) into the University of Lagos in 1979 for him to study Insurance, in the Faculty of Business Administration.
Like the saying goes, a good weekend is known from Friday, what he would later turn out to be in the insurance sector started showing while in the university. As an undergraduate student, he worked during vacations with two of the lead insurers at the time, the Nigeria Insurance Corporation (NICON) and the Royal Exchange Insurance Company.
After he graduated in the 1981/1982 academic session, he proceeded to do the compulsory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme at the Unity Life Insurance Company Limited, where he was deployed to the Claims Department.
While serving as a corps member in the company, he started learning the ropes in practical terms. It did not take long before he qualified as an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London (ACII), thus becoming a full professional insurer after writing the institute’s examination.
Armed with the professional certificate of ACII and the practical experiences he gathered while serving as a corps member for one year, he was ready to conquer the insurance world.
He left Unity Life and Fire Insurance Company Ltd for Crusader Insurance Company Plc, where he was posted to the Individual Life Department to train and assist life managers. He worked with the life manager for two years and was moved by the management to head the Lagos branch office of the company in Ikeja.
From Crusader, he moved to Valid Assurance, where he became the underwriting manager, and a couple of other insurance companies, before he finally established his own company in 1997. He established Brickred Insurance Brokers Ltd and Brickred Consult Ltd, a management/consulting company that he still leads as chairman till date.
An excellent leader, Dr. Okehi’s leadership dexterity dates back to his undergraduate days at the University of Lagos, when he emerged as one of the three students that represented the Faculty of Business Administration in the Senate of the Students’ Union of the university. He was also the secretary general of the Actuarial Science and Insurance Students Association of the department and later its president. He later became the national president of Actuarial Science and Insurance Students of all the universities and polytechnics offering Actuarial Science/or Insurance in Nigeria.
Although he manifested a lot of the leadership skills that he later built on during his university days, his leadership qualities blossomed during his stint at Crusader Insurance PLC, Valid Insurance Ltd and African Development Insurance.
It was in Crusader Insurance that his marketing skills and ability to recruit and train insurance sales agents and consultants first manifested. He recruited agents, retrained many of them and made them productive. As a young leader, the company encouraged him by giving him an official vehicle and at the same time a loan to purchase a private Peugeot car.
When he moved from Crusader to Valid Assurance as the next in the technical section to the CEO, his leadership skills equally came to the fore as he helped push the company up technically and in the market by enhancing its reinsurance capacity and bridging the relationship gap between leading insurance brokers and the company.
While in Valid, he equally updated the Underwriting and Claims Department by repackaging insurance policies and re-evaluating the policy conditions, thereby improving the dysfunctional processes.
Then, at the Africa Development Insurance Ltd (ADIC), where he entered as the GM/COO, the company’s turnover did not only increase but the systems were improved and functional. ADIC then became the love of the industry and the delight of the Insurance Brokers. He drew-up client servicing programmes and recruited highly skilled staff into our teams and this helped to project the company.
Dr. Okehi is also an author of many books. His interest in writing started while in ADIC, where he quickly improved his writing skills, following the proficiency route provided by his then boss, Chief Joe Irukwu, who was also a great writer. He tapped from his excellent writing skills and imbibed his leadership style, so much that he was asked by Chief Irukwu to write and deliver papers at insurance and management conferences and workshops.
A prolific writer, he has written seven books on risk management, including, Modelling risk management in banks: Examining why banks fail; one book on insurance marketing and strategies, and the current book on transformational and compelling leadership. He has equally authored three Christian books – Heirs of Righteousness, Jesus the Game Changer and The Realities of God’s Grace to Man, which would be launched during his 70th birthday celebration.
However, Dr. Okehi’s love for Christ is unparalleled. Born and wedded in the Anglican Church in 1996 since his parents and those of his wife were strong leaders of the Angelical Communion in the Owerri Dioceses of Imo State, he later left the church when he felt the Church was no longer giving him the level of spirituality his late mother implanted in him while he was growing up. And looking at the great challenges in the environment, he said he needed a total renewal of his faith in God and that was how he found his way to The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM).
Like they say that a golden fish has no hiding place, his leadership qualities could not be hidden as they quickly manifested in his service at the church. Thus, in 2003 when TREM created the Hall of Meritorious Leaders, he was chosen among the 12 outstanding leaders of the church.
A Fellow of the Registered Insurance Brokers (FCIB) and Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (FCIIN), he has numerous other titles and awards in the insurance sector to his kitty.
A doctorate degree holder in Management from the Walden University, Okehi apart from being an author, an astute leader, an insurance icon and a lover of the gospel, is also a university lecturer, who has groomed numerous giants in the field of insurance.
His hobbies include reading, writing and travelling. He noted that having the opportunity to travel all over the world most of the time with his family has been a facilitating hobby.
However, when he traveled to Israel, his experience was quite memorable as he recounted how a tour guide made the journey quite overwhelming and real. “We were at the graveside of Jesus where the sign was boldly written that he was no longer in the grave. We also visited River Jordan, which birthed so many biblical miracles, and we were eventually re-baptized there. “Another striking experience while in Israel was visiting the biggest centre that told the holocaust story and the experience of the Jews in the hands of Hitler and the Nazis,” he said.
As he celebrates his 70th birthday, it is a moment of sober reflections on his contributions to the insurance sector in Nigeria. Indeed, it a celebration of the making of an insurance colossus, who has attained the platinum age and deserves all the flowers and accolades.