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By Henry Uche
Experts have raised concerns over Nigeria’s growing shortage of actuaries and warned that the deficit poses major economic risks.
They are urging the federal government, universities and relevant institutions to take urgent steps in developing actuarial talent to strengthen the country’s financial and insurance sectors.
An actuary is a professional who analyzes financial risk using mathematics, statistics and economic principles. They often work in insurance, pensions, finance, and investment sectors, helping businesses and governments make informed decisions about risk management.
Actuaries play a critical role in risk assessment across various sectors, including life, health, property, and financial investments. They leverage statistical models to forecast future events such as accidents, illnesses, and market fluctuations, ensuring that companies maintain adequate reserves to meet future claims. Their expertise extends to designing insurance policies, pension schemes, and investment strategies, while also communicating research findings to key stakeholders, including executives and regulators.
Becoming an actuary demands strong mathematical and statistical skills, proficiency in actuarial software such as R, Python, Excel, and SQL, as well as analytical problem-solving abilities. Additionally, business acumen and the capacity to translate complex data into actionable insights for non-experts are essential. This rigorous skill set requires extensive education and continuous professional development, making the actuarial profession both challenging and highly specialized.
Despite the crucial role actuaries play in the financial and insurance sectors, Nigeria faces a severe shortage of qualified professionals. According to the Nigerian Actuarial Society (NAS), the country currently has only nine fully qualified actuaries out of a total of 71 in the field. This alarming gap has long been a concern for industry stakeholders, as the lack of actuarial expertise weakens the insurance value chain. However, the profession remains largely overlooked by young Nigerians, exacerbating the talent deficit and leaving the industry struggling to attract the next generation of actuarial professionals.
A teacher of insurance once said, “It is not a very easy discipline. Many young people do not go into it. And for those who do, a significant percentage of them drop or change course along the line.”
“We don’t really blame them. The course is highly demanding. It’s not an all-comers affair. You must be very serious, dedicated, and focused. Besides, it requires patience. When you look at these requirements, an average Nigerian young admission seeker would not want to go through this taxing route. They need cheaper and quicker routes to get to their destinations. Besides, just a few universities are offering the course.”
Investigations across various insurance companies reveal a troubling reality—many firms operate without a single in-house actuary. Some rely on actuaries on a contractual basis, while others struggle to afford the cost of retaining a qualified actuary as full-time staff. Findings by Daily Sun further indicate that hiring actuaries on a permanent basis remains a financial challenge for many insurers.
Industry experts and analysts warn that this persistent shortage of actuaries poses significant risks to the insurance sector. Given the crucial role actuaries play in risk assessment, accident evaluation, and prudent claims management, stakeholders are calling for urgent measures to reverse this trend.
Commenting on the issue, Dr Pius Apere (Ph.D.), Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Achor Actuarial Services Limited, attributed the problem to inadequate funding, stressing the need for immediate intervention to strengthen actuarial capacity in Nigeria.
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Apere, an actuarial scientist and chartered insurer, in the statement titled ‘Actuarial Skills Gap in Nigeria and the Need for Funding,’ gave a background of the Nigerian Actuarial Society (NAS) as the premier Nigerian actuarial professional body established in 1986, which has not developed the capacity to qualify actuaries through examinations but has criteria for admitting members into the society (having five classes of membership: Student, Analyst, Associate, Fellow, and Honorary).
He said the qualified actuaries got their qualifications from different professional bodies abroad, and the students are not writing a common standard examination conducted by one professional body abroad.
He recalled that NAICOM, in a recent circular on annuity underwriting effective February 1, 2025, had directed life insurers to have at least one qualified actuary responsible for Asset-Liability Matching (ALM) analysis and implementation, using NAS Standards of Actuarial Practice (NSAP) on annuities as a guide for pricing, valuation, and ALM reports of annuity portfolios.
NAICOM already defined a qualified actuary as a Fellow of NAS, but an Associate of NAS may take up the role of an in-house Qualified Actuary only for the purpose of ALM analysis.
Troubled by the situation, Apere bemoaned that the shortage of actuaries in Nigeria would be exacerbated further (with only nine qualified actuaries registered in NAS out of its over 71 members) when NAICOM’s circular is implemented for the following reasons:
First, the circular implies that qualified actuaries from foreign countries (e.g., South Africa, Kenya, etc.) who had been working for Nigeria’s financial sector (e.g., during the recent implementation of IFRS 17) will need to register with NAS before they can practice in Nigeria.
Secondly, given that foreign actuaries are working for actuarial consultancy firms abroad, they were only seconded to work for Nigerian insurance companies on behalf of their foreign firms.
Moreover, the foreign actuaries may not be readily available for the Nigerian market any longer since NAS will only register actuaries and not the consultancy firms. Besides, some NAS actuaries have already retired or are near retirement.
Again, he said since NAS actuaries are already engaged with companies or actuarial consultants in Nigeria, how many of them will accept to leave their current employment to join the insurance companies? Moreover, the circular requires companies to recruit actuaries on a permanent basis, but the cost of doing so is too high when recruiting from abroad. Additionally, the number of NAS Associate members is also very limited.
A step forward was to pay more attention to a cost-effective actuarial training program in Nigeria. To start with, in January 2024, the University of Lagos (Unilag), in partnership with NAS, achieved the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) UK accreditation for its postgraduate M.Sc. degree program in Actuarial Science as a pathway to IFoA qualifications.
“This will provide successful students with six exemptions from the IFoA qualifications. This could be the fastest and most cost-effective route for NAS to develop common qualifications and increase its number of qualified actuaries in the medium term, like the route the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) took in collaboration with CII London before conducting their own examinations in the early 1990s.
“Unilag is the second university currently being accredited in Africa by IFoA, which is a rare privilege and opportunity for Nigeria. Thus, this program needs to be fully supported, not only by NAICOM and the insurance industry but also by the Federal and State Governments, including TETFUND, to ensure adequate funding and sensitization for the training of Nigerian actuaries over the medium term,” he implored.
In another development, the Executive Council of NAS beckoned on the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) to strengthen its existing relationship with insurance operators, as the Society officially presented a draft copy of the Actuarial Bill to NIA’s DG for assessment, suggestions, and contributions of insurers before presenting it to the National Assembly.
During a courtesy visit to Insurers’ House in Lagos, the Director General of NIA, Mrs. Bola Odukale, in a remark, commended NAS for its long-standing partnership with the NIA, noting that the NIA recognizes the significance and support of NAS in enhancing its operations.
